Falling Stars
by Tastychainsaws
Summary: The four girls have lived in an enormous underground vault their entire lives safe from the hellish wastes. But when Konata's father leaves randomly one morning she drags her friends with her to find him and possibly a new life. DONE!
1. Vault 101

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 1- VAULT 101**

Hello dear reader, tis I the almighty and powerful (and mostly egotistic) Tastychainsaws. This section here was previously filled with me being all like, "This is my first story, I'm about to piss myself with anxiety, don't be surprised if it sucks." But since I'm rewriting this I decided to replace this authors note section with one that has a bit more confidence, and make it written in past tense. (**You can skip to the next bold print to skip all of this if you see fit**)

Yeah I realize the idea of a Lucky Star and Fallout crossover is strange (Yet strangely awesome) but I somehow made it work and more than one person liked it so that's cool.

Anyways the gist of this story is that I took all the characters from Lucky Star and dumped them into the Fallout 3 universe. So every character takes the place of another character from Fallout 3, some roles are major, (Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, ect…) while some characters only appear periodically, (Minami, Misao, Yui ect…) then there are a few that appear maybe once or twice. (I could of swore Patty did something, I just can't remember what…)

One other _maybe _important thing. I don't own Lucky Star or Fallout, I shouldn't have to put this here since you're more than likely reading this off of fan fiction. However, if this somehow ends up on a different site by some sneaky story thief, I just want every to know that I don't own this. Which reminds me, you people can do anything you want with this story. Post it on a different site, draw a manga out of it; I don't care just credit me if you do. But if you do draw a manga or something would you please show me? 'Cuz that would be awesome. In fact I _urge _you to do that, just don't be bad at it.

Continuing my wordy intro. If you're just now starting to read this then congratulations you get to read the better version of this story. When I first typed this all up I fired away at about 80 words a minute with lots of mistakes. Many of which I did not correct, I promised to do so over many chapters and now I'm finally doing so. I also may expand on some conversations, some thoughts and also clear out some of my useless adverbs.

Think of it this way, there are two versions of _The Stand, _the original then an extended one with some bonus content that really isn't all that important. This is like the latter.

So how will our Lucky Star heroes fare in the harsh apocalyptic wastes? Probably not very well, still read on and discover the adventures of Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa and everyone else!

**2267, JULY 13****th****. AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE**

_"War…War never changes. Since the dawn of human kind, when our ancestors first discovered the killing power of rock and bone, blood has been spilled in the name of everything, from God to justice to simple, psychotic rage."_

_"In the year 2077, after millennia of armed conflict, the destructive nature of man could sustain itself no longer. The world was plunged into an abyss of nuclear fire and radiation. But it was not, as some had predicted, the end of the world. Instead, the apocalypse was simply the prologue to another bloody chapter of human history. For man had succeeded in destroying the world - but war, war never changes."_

"_In the early days, thousands were spared the horrors of the holocaust by taking refuge in enormous underground shelters, known as vaults. But when they emerged, they had only the hell of the wastes to greet them - all except those in Vault 101. For on the fateful day, when fire rained from the sky, the giant steel door of Vault 101 slid closed... and never reopened. It was here you were born. It is here you will die. Because, in Vault 101: no one ever enters and no one ever leaves. "_

Mr. Brotch took a seat after lecturing his nine and ten year old students with his favorite speech. It was a good way to start the school year for these students of his. After a day of explaining to the young children what was expected of the of their next seven years of schooling, the kids sprinted out of their class releasing all their pint up energy after a day of listening to lectures and being told what they were going to do and blah blah blah.

"Ms. Izumi!" He called out to one student, one tiny girl with blue hair half way down her back, who was lingering behind the rest of the pack. The little girl turned around quickly and greeted him in the hall outside the class.

"Yes sir?" She cheerfully answered. Today was her 10th birthday and she assumed Mr. Brotch was giving her a gift. Gifts were hard to obtain in Vault 101, however, buried in storage there were all kinds of things to keep the residents entertained. Prewar books, movies, videogames and plenty of other things. For kids it was great but once into their twenties the residents quickly found out how redundant those things became.

"I need you to stay after class and clean the desks." He told her.

Little Konata Izumi's birthday dreams were quickly crushed then and there. "But…but…but, it's my birthday today!" She whimpered.

"I can't give any students favoritism. The overseer would take away my job." Mr. Brotch explained, he seemed distracted by something but Konata didn't focus on it. She just wanted to go back to her dorm and open presents and eat cake with her friends. Konata knew the overseer was strict but she didn't really think she was THAT strict. She had only seen the overseer once or twice, generally caught up in her duties, Overseer Takara didn't make many public appearances. Konata's father said that behind the public opinion of her, the overseer really wasn't that bad of a person. A bit of a klutz and an airhead, just like her daughter, but over all a good soul.

Little Izumi spent the next thirty minutes scrubbing desks that had been in service for a solid 200 years. She managed to make them look a little less like something you'd get tetanus from touching, and something more resembling a school desk.

"There Mr. Brotch, done!" She exclaimed happily with a victory pose. Mr. Brotch hung up the phone he was on and addressed her.

"That was your father; he says he wants you to stop at the cafeteria instead of going straight to your dormitory." Konata nodded in approval and marched triumphantly towards the vault cafeteria. The cafeteria was fairly small since it didn't get much use. Vault residents could eat in their dorms and generally chose to do so. It was mainly used for social gatherings, like today, and people just stopping for a quick bite before going to work.

When she opened the door she was assaulted with a blinding light from a camera flash, she swung her arms around violently and barely avoided backhanding someone.

"Happy Birthday!" All her friends, father, and his friends shouted in unison. Her current best friend and overseer's daughter, Miyuki, stepped up and greeted her.

"Happy Birthday Konata-san, did we surprise you?" She asked earnestly, Miyuki was only ten years old but was already well through puberty, already a foot taller than Konata she already had a decent bust.

"No…no, you didn't! I mean I totally knew you were planning this." Konata lied; the lie wasn't hidden well through her shortness of breath and racing heart.

"Oh, is that so." Miyuki replied quietly, she knew Konata was lying but didn't want to steal her thunder. She was the nicest person Konata knew by far and probably the prettiest ten year old in their class. Not pretty in the traditional sense but in a more subtle way, with pink wavy hair only a little shorter than Konata and wide circular glasses she didn't stand out instantly like other girls like Suzy Mack did. Instead her beauty grew on people, in Konata's opinion she was probably really easy to fall in love with.

"So what did you get me?" Konata shook Miyuki back and forth and repeated several times while smiling with her catlike grin.

Miyuki muttered something and passed her a wrapped rectangular box from the table next to them. Konata immediately released her from her grip and took it.

"Aww Yuki-chan you shouldn't have." She said trying to sound polite; her eagerness sort of ruined that though. Konata tore off the paper and through it and the boxes lid aside. Her face was an expression of pure bliss.

Grognak the Barbarian, first issue, mint condition.

"Miyuki." Konata muttered after a few seconds of staring at it. "I think I love you."

"Oh well it was nothing." Miyuki replied modestly. "My mother helped me find it with her old things." She laughed softly. "Can you imagine our parents reading comic like that?" Konata barely paid attention as she leafed through the pages detailing Grognak's raid on the lair of the Virgin Eater.

"Happy Birthday Konata!" Her dad happily shouted and placed a red and yellow striped birthday hat on her.

"Hey dad, look what Yuki-Chan gave me!" She shoved her new comic in his face, letting him bow before its glory. He didn't get a chance to properly bow though.

"Attention everyone it's time to cut the cake!" A robotic voice shouted across the room, interrupting Konata's father from saying anything. The crowd of people looked over towards a bar table where the floating Mr. Handy model robot, named Andy, began descending downward on the cake with a rotating saw.

Before anyone could react the high power buzz saw came down and obliterated the cake. It splattered frosting on a security officer and Konata's other friend Tsukasa.

When the commotion and widespread dismay calmed down, Konata was approached by the overseer herself. This woman was obviously Miyuki's mother, with the same build and wavy pink hair the resemblance was shocking.

"My, already ten years old." Yukari Takara said to herself like Konata had accomplished some impressive task. "Do you know what that means?"

"Unrestricted vault access and a master key!" Konata answered eagerly.

"Umm. No." Yukari replied not understanding that she wasn't being serious. "Ahem, as overseer of Vault 101 I am proud to give you your very own Pip Boy 3000!" She tried to sound serious about it but it came out awkward due to her extremely calm nature. She handed Konata the Pip Boy, a computer device that slipped over her wrist and most of her forearm. Konata winced as a series of needles punctured her arm and her vitals became to show up on the small screen.

She didn't show it, but Konata as extremely excited to get her very own Pip Boy. It could read all your health statistics, pick up radio signals, map the surrounding area, play holotapes and monitor all sorts of things. While she was inspecting her new present, Yukari said bye to her daughter, and then went back to attend her Overseer duties.

As far as birthdays went in underground bomb shelters with purely recycled goods, Konata had a decent one. A security officer named Gomez gave her a baseball cap, old lady Palmer gave her a sweet roll, and she also got a poem from a lady she had seen maybe twice named Beatrice.

"Hey, I'm hungry and that robot wrecked the stupid cake!" A kid shouted at Konata, effectively interrupting her conversation with her friends and fraternal twins Tsukasa and Kagami Hiiragi. She had been friends with them for about five years now. Personality-wise she was more like Tsukasa, but she was closer to Kagami.

"I saw old lady Palmer give you that sweet roll, I'm hungry and want it now!" Konata recognized this kid, Butch. He was only a few months older than her and up till now had been discussing names for his soon to be gang with his friends.

"Sweet roll?" Konata smiled, the crumbs and frosting around her lips were enough to set the kid trying to play "tough-guy" off. He shoved her against the bar stool and threw one good punch at her left eye. She stared at him in shock, tears already were starting to form.

"Now you're going to give me that comic you got from the overseers kid or I'm gonna rough you up even worse." Butch demanded. Konata glanced around. _Where did all the adults go?_ She thought after realizing no one in this room was older than ten, all the adults had seemed to have left the kids on their own for the time being. It made sense, they humored Konata's dad then left to go do more interesting things.

"Never!" Konata screamed and tried to wiggle away. Butch brought his fist down but it was stopped mid air by someone else.

"Hey what gives!?" He shouted in surprise and looked his shoulder. There standing behind him was Kagami Hiiragi, who had stopped him mid-lunge.

"Picking on a girl on her birthday! What's wrong with you?" She growled and threw him aside. Butch's face was an expression of complete total awe, not only had someone stood up to him, but a girl none the less. A girl with lilac pigtails held together with purple bows. His friends were to stunned to react too.

"Come on guys lets blow this stupid baby party!" He yelled towards his lackeys and the four of them left shouting curses back at the girls.

"Are you alright Kona-Chan!?" Tsukasa, the smaller of the Hiiragi twins, said rushed to Konatas aid. She was technically the same height and almost the same weight as her sister, but she was still considered the little sister.

"We win this fight!" Konata cheered. "With the three of us, no one will ever mess with me!"

Kagami put a stop to her cheering. "Calm down, I just stopped them from picking on you, that's all. Stop talking like we're going to start a gang."

"A gang, that's a perfect idea!" Konata cheered again. "You sure are smart Kagamin."

"No, that's not what I meant!" She tried to explain what she meant but the damage had been done.

After several minutes of idle chatter between the three, Konata's father returned from wherever he had gone.

"Well it's ready!" He told Konata.

"What's ready?" Konata asked suspiciously.

"The present Dr. Jonas and I have been working on, follow me, he's down on the reactor level." He motioned for her to follow him. She trailed behind him imagining what kind of fun things were on the reactor level. Probably bombs and robot minions, because in the mind of an imaginative ten year, there was no reason for them _not _to be down there.

Surprisingly the reactor level wasn't exactly exciting. Some boring machinery and flashy lights No bottomless pits of electricity and guards with hazmat suits like the little blue hair girl imagined.

"So, ready for your surprise?" Her father asked trying to keep his voice level, the excitement was definitely there though.

"I don't like surprises." Little Izumi lied; she didn't know why she lied though, maybe to create a guise of order? Or maybe she was becoming a compulsive liar? It didn't matter though.

"Ha, since when?" Sojiro Izumi laughed, "Well here it is…" He reached over to a cabinet used for tools and pulled out her present. An old Red Rider BB gun.

"All yours." He said and handed it to his daughter. She stared at it silently for a few moments then stuck a victory pose with it.

"What do I get to kill!?" She squeaked and aimed at Jonas, her father's friend and main vault technician who had already been down there.

"Now, now, you can't go around firing at random. That would cause the overseer to come knocking down our door." He explained to his daughter. "This wasn't easy to make either, to get a spring that small for it we had to…" His voice droned off as Konata rapidly began daydreaming. If Butch gave her crap BAM, if Mr. Brotch told her to stay after and do extra work then BAM! With a gun she could conquer the entire vault and not have to rely on Kagami for homework and, like today, protection from bullies.

Her mind wandered on to Kagami as her dad went over more boring technical stuff. Although she was probably closer in the ways of friendship with her twin Tsukasa, she had a much deeper respect for Kagami. Even this young, Kagami was extremely independent, from what Konata had seen she was good at everything. She had such an unapproachable aura which in a way made Konata proud to be considered her friend, and she knew beneath her rough exterior she was actually really nice.

"…and anyways you'll just have to keep the BB gun a secret for now." Her dad finally finished.

"But…but how will I use it then?" Sojiro could see his little girl's dreams of vault domination shatter (Even though the entire twelve man security force was armed with 10mm pistols). He knew she could still have fun with her present without starting a riot and had planned ahead.

"Well, Jonas and I have set up a shooting range near the storage facility just for you." That eccentric spark reappeared in her eyes again at that news. Jonas and her dad led her to a stretch of a hallway that had multiple targets set up behind a small child sized barricade.

Konata quickly shot three of the circular targets and stood triumphantly, in the event of a zombie breakout in the vault she would ready…she would be ready.

"Radroach!" Jonas cried out, Jonas who had been invisible in Konata's mind up till now. He was right, a cockroach the size of a small dog scurried across the shooting range. A remnant of the nuclear disaster outside of her home.

Konata wasted no time reloading her new toy and firing at the unwelcome guest. Radroaches weren't dangerous alone, but there had been people who had died in the vaults history from radroach breakouts, if five or more got on you then it was game over.

Her first two shots missed and went wild, but the third manage to splatter its little buggy brains against the ground. She whistled a fanfare from a game over 200 years old and twirled her rifle.

"Ha! Well done!" Her father praised and patted her head. She smiled upward with her catlike grin. Best. Birthday. Ever.

"Jonas, get a picture with and the big game hunter here!" Sojiro said. Jonas, who had been apparently talking a lot with Konata noticing obliged and took a photo with the camera he had brought down to capture the moment.

**GENERAL OCCUPATION APTITUDE TEST**

Six years had passed in Vault 101. Konata Izumi, Miyuki Takara, and the Hiiragi twins had become best friends not long after Konata's birthday. Nearly every day after school was spent together until vault curfew, each day becoming a little bit closer. In the end that friendship is what kept Kagami and Konata alive in the trials they would face years later.

Occasionally Konata would look at them sleeping at one of their sleepovers and think _I may be stuck in this stupid boring lousy vault for the rest of my life, but at least I have these friends to spend it with. _

Konata hadn't changed much since her 10th birthday, she only grew about four inches and the rest of her body stayed the same. Emotionally, other vault-dwellers would compare her to a ten year old girl no matter what age she was. They considered her strange especially compared to her friends and family. Kagami and Miyuki were both incredibly gifted academically, but being the daughter of the overseer Miyuki only had one career choice. Konata on the other hand did not flourish well in school. She was smart but school bored her and studying just seemed pointless. "Why learn this stuff if we're never going to leave the vault and apply it?" was her motto.

Even compared to her father she was strange. Sojiro wasn't the most "normal" person in the world but he was extremely driven and focused on his work as the vault doctor. Miki Hiiragi, the mother of Kagami and Tsukasa, refused to let him do any physical exams on any of her daughters. Konata, compared to her father, on the other hand never seemed to be driven to do anything outside prewar games and comics/manga.

As life when on for her it only seemed to get more and more drab and dull. The _General Occupation Aptitude Test _was fast approaching, but still she didn't feel any excitement for it. The GOAT test was designed to quiz all 16 year old students with a variety of questions that would determine their future. Kagami was taking it very seriously and spent the last month on auto-pilot studying for it. She isolated Konata and her sister almost completely. Miyuki, although probably more intelligent than Kagami, had nothing to fear from the test, her job was sealed. Tsukasa had tried to take it seriously and to some extent Konata admired that, but she got to easily distracted. That worked for her though so she had someone to spend time with.

Kagami growled in frustration at all the notes in front of her, Mr. Brotch was apparently unable to give any information on the GOAT so she resorted to studying everything there was to study in Vault 101. Every last computer document and prewar book and been scavenged by her to be used in her furious studying. She didn't even realize how much information she had taken in, Kagami was now the closet thing to an encyclopedia her friends had. Miyuki was probably smarter but Konata felt it necessary to bother mainly her.

Two days before the big day and there was still so much to learn and take in, but just not enough time; and Kagami absolutely refused to be stuck in the service or security industry. She had heard loose rumors that a long time ago other vaults sometimes would allow students to become overseers if they scored well enough. But those records were nearly 100 years old. The vaults were designed to be independent with little communication to the others, but every single vault within at least 500 miles of 101 had gone silent over the years. That mystery still kept her awake at night; Vault 101 had plenty of supplies to keep them all live comfortably for the end of time. What went wrong? That was something she didn't want to think about.

Her train of thought was shattered by an onslaught of noise from behind her.

"Valentine Day Kiss!" Tsukasa sang along to the radio in their home, a lot louder than Kagami would have preferred. Not to mention Konata cheering her on wasn't helping.

"Shouldn't you two be studying for the test that determines what you do for rest of your life?" She groaned at them. Kagami had been over this before but they refused to listen, or Konata would steer Tsukasa astray again.

"Kagamin you've been studying for weeks now, they're going to make you Laser Jesus so just relax." Konata smirked at her. Laser Jesus was apparently her new thing, when ever Kagami tried to work had she was apparently aspiring to be Laser Jesus. Tsukasa giggled in the background at that.

"Well if you want to live out your life as a janitor that's not my problem." She retorted. "But Tsukasa, moms going to be pissed if she finds out you're the new person who gets to go and clean out the pipes when the sewage backs up." Her younger twin looked at her in shock.

"Do people actually have to do that, onee-chan?" She nervously asked.

"Oh yeah, they'd probably make Konata do it but she's to small and puny, but you're the right size. You have to be careful though, mutated crab people live down there; and they have foot long claws that can snap your head right off." Her lie worked. Tsukasa turned off the radio and sprinted towards her desk and instantly began reading. Kagami didn't have the heart to tell her that she was now taking notes out of the book Konata had left on that desk. _The Zombie Survival Guide._

"I know a good job for you." Konata said in probably the most serious voice Kagami had heard from her all week. "You could be the new fun police."

"This is important Konata, you're my friend and I don't want to see you have to waste your life doing some terrible job every day. You've told me how boring our lives here are, this is your chance to try and make it better." Kagami had tried this argument before but nothing seemed to get through to her.

Konata said nothing and twiddled her toes. She hated it when Kagami pulled guilt trip arguments like that, yet at the same time it felt great to know her friend cared about her like that. It tore her up inside thinking about it.

"I'm going to see what Miyuki-san doing." She muttered and walked out.

**OUR FATE IS DECIDED BY A FARM ANIMAL**

Time flew by fast and the day of the test was finally here. Kagami had to struggle to wake her twin up on time, Tsukasa had insisted on staying up all night working on studying. Konata, however, had other plans on how to handle the GOAT.

"No dad, I'm sick really." Konata said in a low voice and faked two more coughs.

"Well according to this you're a perfectly healthy sixteen year old girl." Her father replied reading off a print out from his medical terminal. "Now go and take the GOAT, it's not that bad and we all have to do it. Not to mention it wouldn't do your mother any good if she knew her daughter was working as a janitor." He seldom brought up her dead mother, but this time he felt Konata need a bit of a push.

Konata was about to get up and leave when she asked. "Tell me more about mom." Partly due to her own curiosity, partly to consume more time.

"You know she died giving birth to you." Konata nodded silently. Soujio took a deep breath. He had to be careful when talking about Kanata with Konata, his late wife had made him promise that he'd make sure that Konata was never aware of the thing she had done. "Well, she never stopped loving you until the end. She was…so eager to meet you and make a place for you in the world." Most of the time he would entertain her with stories of the fun stuff they did before she was born. The vault sounded like a much more exciting place back then. However, no other adults ever mentioned Sojiro or Kanata or what they were like. It seemed to Konata they must have been invisible to the other residents.

_Do they see me that way too? _She thought grimly.

"Well, I'm gonna go take the GOAT now." Konata said in a near whisper and trudged off. She would like to hear more about her mother, but it almost didn't seem fair to hear how great she was when Konata herself had accomplished so little here. The thought almost brought tears to her eyes. Was she the only one who felt so insignificant in this cooped up little vault?

Before she could dwell on self pity some more something caught her attention.

"Why even bother showing your pretty little face 'round here if you're gonna just get to be the overseer when your old lady croaks over?" It sounded like someone was picking on Miyuki. By the sound of the voices it was Butch and his little crowd, they now went by the name "Tunnel Snakes." Konata secretly wished Kagami had taken up on her gang idea and called themselves the "Moe Drills"

"But why pick in Yuki-chan, she's the nicest person in the vault?" Konata wondered to herself. She rounded a corner and saw the three of them surrounding Miyuki, instead of the blue and yellow jumpsuits that everyone else wore they had blue jeans and leather jackets with their gangs name stitched. How they got a hold of the material for that was a mystery no one could solve.

"Leave Yuki-chan alone!" She yelled at them, it was more of a squeak but an intimidating one at that. For added affect she gave one of Butches minions, Paul Hannon a shove.

The three of them instantly turned their focus to her. Very suddenly she felt very small with the three of them towering over her, Butch looked down on her and laughed. His 50's greaser style hair made her insides boil with rage for some reason she couldn't explain.

"Well looky here boys little Izumi is trying to stick up for her gal friend." Butch mocked her and the other joined in with laughter.

_Maybe I could get a job in security _Konata thought as she brought her booted foot into the soft part between Butches legs. She silently thanked whoever was watching over her for making boots part of the mandatory dress regulations.

"Get her!" Butch choked through the pain. Then they were on her. Maybe one she could have handled, but all three was too much. Miyuki disappeared from the scene, Konata presumed she went to go get help since the class room as only a thirty seconds walk away.

After a minute or two of beatings all hope seemed lost. She took another split lip then decided to it was time to fall back and regroup, they weren't going to let her crawl away so easy. Maybe Butch had been having a bad day or something but Konata knew there was probably some reason for his merciless beating; he was always fighting people, but today seemed worse.

With a flurry of lilac hair her guardian angel had arrived.

"Get the hell off of her, she's half your size you fucking jerk!" That was the first time Konata had ever heard Kagami swear like that.

Butch practically flew off her as Kagami pulled him. It was hard to see from her angle but Konata saw what looked like her pigtailed friend beating the two others into a bloody pulp. It didn't take long for them to scamper off.

"Kona-chan are you okay?" It was a rhetorical question due to the fact that she had a split lip a black eye and probably a broken bone or two.

"Had…to…stick up for Yuki-chan." Konata muttered through her split lip, it hurt to talk, but that was her favorite thing to do and a little pain wouldn't stop her.

"Let's get you to Dr. Izumi." Kagami said got her to her feat. She collapsed back down instantly and winced.

"Kagamin…" She said, wincing again.

"Yeah what is it?" Konata could see the worried look in her eyes and couldn't help but feel flattered.

"Don't call my dad Dr. Izumi, it sounds weird." Were her last words before she passed out.

**SEPTEMBER 27****TH**** 2277**

In the years to come, Konata would consider the day of the GOAT test to be the worst day of her life. Later she would wish her bad days were that simple but for now that would suffice as a worse day ever.

Two days later she had to take the GOAT test alone. She did terribly, it may have been the pain or the anxiety or the fact that the questions were all hypothetical situations with multiple choice answers. The score she got back told her due to her extremely violent and reckless nature she would be forced into custodial duty to prevent a violent incident. At the time it actually seemed funny.

Tsukasa became a chef, the job suited her well and she was a good cook. Sometimes the GOAT did get it right.

Kagami, who was furious when she found out that her studying had been for nothing, did amazing on the test. Although the parameters forbid her to become overseer she felt like she could have had a shot at it in a different world. The score she got back recommended her to become the new chief engineer of all vault equipment. Not what she had expected but at least there was some variety, and also in the event that the doctor, pip-boy programmer, police chief, or teacher were absent she would be next in line for that career if she saw fit.

The four girls friendship faltered a bit after the GOAT, with no more school and plenty of work they didn't see each other nearly as much. But every morning Konata would stop in at the vault cafeteria to eat pancakes and discuss the latest happenings with Tsukasa. Generally there were no latest happenings.

Three years went by and the girls became adults and adjusted themselves to the lives chosen for them. In hindsight Konata realized that Kagami was probably right about taking the time to study.

**INTO THE FLOOD AGAIN**

Sojiro had been planning this for years but today was the day. He awoke at four AM and quickly gathered his things and woke Jonas too. Jonas would help him in all of this. He didn't regret his life in the vault but he knew his previous work was more important than anything he could hope to accomplish here.

"Are we taking her along too?" Jonas asked, breaking the silence in the dark halls as they walked towards the massive steel doors that led to the outside world.

"No." He replied quickly. "You know my reasons." Jonas nodded. Leaving his daughter here was going to be the hardest thing he'd ever done, harder than stepping away from the project him and Kanata worked on before she died. That project was worth sacrificing to secure a safe life for his baby girl. Away from the hell of the wastes. She probably wouldn't understand it now, but Konata was better off here.

They had expected complications with leaving the vault; Overseer Takara had a strict policy of isolationism after her husband died in a scouting party just before her daughter was born.

Sojiro typed in the password that activated the massive steel door and watched as it opened with a deafening rusty screech; but they weren't going to be allowed to just leave like that.

**SEVERAL MINUTES EARLIER…**

"Hey Gomez, looks like Jonas and the Doc are making a break for it!" Chief Hannon called out as he saw the two figures begin make they way for the door. They knew their duties, Takara hadn't been clear one what to do if someone tried to escape but he knew what she meant. He grabbed and loaded his 10mm pistol.

**THEN ABOUT AN HOUR LATER…**

Konata bolted out of her sleep as soon as she heard her name being called.

"Konata, wake up, you've got to get up!" It was Miyuki and she sounded desperate. A quick glance at the clock told her it was five in the morning. Maybe one of her secret fantasies about to come true.

"Ah, Yuki-chan I was just dreaming about you." She blurted out without thinking.

"What? No Kona-chan this is serious." Miyuki looked like she had been crying, and her normally well groomed appearance seemed messy, and her glasses were gone. Konata knew something was wrong if her glasses were gone; her pink haired friend had the worse eyesight of any post apocalyptic survivor on the planet. Then the sirens going off confirmed that something was wrong.

"Miyuki, what's going on?" She asked slowly.

"Your dad tried to leave the vault and they shot Jonas and then a whole bunch of radroaches got loose and now the security team has gone crazy and shooting at people!" It came out as one jumbled crying mess, but Konata could make out most of it.

"Sorry, but they're coming for you next you have to get out of here!" Miyuki warned. Konata saw her pull something out of the large pockets of her Vault 101 jumpsuit and had it to her.

_A 10mm pistol_.

"Promise you'll only use it as a last resort?" Miyuki asked,she trying hard to keep more tears back.

"Promise." Konata confirmed. That same feeling she got when she first held that BB gun nine years ago. For added firepower she grabbed her old Vault Little League baseball bat and headed out.

It was her time to leave this cooped up vault once and for all. Maybe one day she'd come back and grab all her friends too after she took over what was left of the world.

**VICTIMS OF CIRCUMSTANCE**

"Tsukasa I told you a thousand times you have to turn your pip-boy off when you shower. It shorts it out and it's a pain to fix." Kagami scolded, this was the third time this had happened in the last two months.

"Sorry onee-chan I'll remember next time." Tsukasa sounded unconscious, after a full night of working on this she didn't know how she was going to finish her shift without falling asleep on the stove.

"Kagami Hiiragi!" A male voice shouted as the door opened.

"That'd be me." She greeted him; her job came with all sorts of random interruptions by people. This one was a security officer; she guessed he spilled coffee on a terminal or something. Kagami noticed this was one of the lackeys from Butch's gang; so they were coming to get her because someone stuck a fork in an electrical socket.

"Come with us, Dr. Izumi managed to get the vault door open and you're the only one who has the know how to close it right now." He explained.

"Get Jonas to do it." She waved him off.

"Jonas is dead!" That got her attention. With only a couple debriefing words she grabbed a bewildered Tsukasa and dragged her to the front gate.

She had no idea why Konata's dad had finally cracked and gone crazy, or why they shot up her boss; but she was going to find out for sure.

Kagami had to hive Soujiro credit, the password he changed the vault door controls to be was a hard one to crack. Luckily all Robco model computers were stupidly easy to hack with their poor setup. Kagami took advantage of it.

Just a few more minutes and she would have it.

Then all hell broke loose.

"Kagami, Tsukasa! I'll save you from them." And there was Konata sprinting towards them with…Kagami cringed…_a gun_.

Before she could say that the three security guards around her were not keeping her hostage, or wonder how the hell Konata had gotten a Tunnel Snake jacket; she opened fire.

The three guards dropped dead around her, their blood splattered against Kagami's white lab coat. Tsukasa grabbed onto her and buried her head to muffle a scream.

"Konata what the hell are you doing!" She screamed. For the first time in her life, actually screamed. Logic quickly took place inside her again and remembered her job. She spun around to the control panel and went to finish up the password.

_"Ilovegirlswithglasses"_

Before she could press the switch that would close the door, the unexpected continued to happen.

The guards who had arrived just now behind her decided to open fire on the three of them. The next thirty seconds were a blur, she remembered gunshots, screaming, Tsukasa screaming and running. Lots of running. They were running the wrong way though, her feet wouldn't work correctly and before she knew it…

Her, Konata, and her fraternal twin were on the outside of the vault. They had run up through a cave and out a rotting wooden door.

Out into the sunlight and wind. Behind them the vault door closed. For the first time the three girls felt warm sunshine and a light breeze touch their skin. This was the beginning, and none of them could have begun to fathom what would happen over the next few months.

If someone went back in time and told them what would happen; Kagami would have laughed in their face.

**SO IT BEGINS**

Well that's it for chapter 1. I hope I managed to weed out most of the mistakes I made, I also made a lot of grammatical corrections in order to make it smoother to read. Also, if you're a new reader don't let the 70+ reviews discourage you from writing one. I read and individually cherish each one like a baby made of pixels and text.

Also I dedicate the song _Would _by _Alice In Chains _to this chapter. Lyrically fitting from Sojiro's point of view I guess, at least the last part of it. I thought up a song to go with every chapter and as I go on editing them I'll include them at the end. Why? Because I can, and also if someone knows that song they might think, "Oh man I know that song, it does fit doesn't it?" And that's a cool feeling if you've felt it. Plus I never would have been able to write this without music, and some songs just really stuck with me when I was writing.


	2. Burnt World

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 2- BURNT WORLD**

Nearly everything that was here has been deleted since it is no longer relevant. The only thing worth saying is that I'm sticking with spelling Konata's fathers name as Sojiro. Why do I bother saying that? Well I've seen at least three different spellings of his name and this is the one I choose.

**HERE WE GO!**

Nineteen years did little to improve Soujiro's opinion on the wasteland. If anything it was worse, the mutant problem had only increased and the raider count had seemed to double. Despite all that he was determined to continue his work, he knew what needed to be done and how to do it. It would be dangerous but definitely worth the risk.

Well, maybe the raiders hadn't had doubled but they were still a lot more abundant than before. Little did he know, when he was in the Vault they had become something of an epidemic. A group called the "Teeth" had nearly overrun every the major settlements, the Enclave had been forced to step in and take care of them.

Despite all the dangers he would surely face and all the opposition that would be in his way….He would continue Kanata's dream of bringing clean, free, water that wasn't irradiated or polluted after 200 years of fallout.

**ON THE OUTSIDE**

Kagami's lower lip trembled and her knees went numb. They were outside, this wasn't supposed to happen. This was _her _fault. She glared at Konata who didn't seem affected by this at all.

The cave had led them to the edge of a highway overpass over looking miles of burnt rocks and sand with the occasional blackened tree or husk of a car. In the far distance she could see the ruins of a city with one structure standing tall from within. The city skyline stood against the yellowed sky like a jaw of rotted teeth. The entire sky was pitched a sickly yellow, and clouds of swirling ash were splattered against it in all directions. The effects of nuclear winter were predominant. The most eye catching about the wastes was definitely the complete lack of plant growth. Only dirty, ugly, malformed shrubs grew in pathetic little clusters together.

After several minutes of stunned silence and pacing, Konata finally broke the silence with a cheer. "We're free! Kagamin, Tsukasa we're finally free!"

"Our home wasn't a prison." Kagami muttered in a voice that was a barely audible squeak. She spotted Tsukasa sitting cross-legged facing the city off the overpass. It didn't take a genius to know she was crying. It was time for her to play big sister.

"Tsukasa, don't cry we'll figure this out." She consoled to her, she knew though that part of her was trying to tell herself that as well. _We had better figure this out, look at this place! We wouldn't survive a week out here._

"You…you think so?" Tsukasa sniffled.

"Yeah, they'll realize that Chief Hannon screwed up and let us back in no time." Despite everything Kagami managed to smile.

"I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions like that." Konata said, nudging at a skeleton on top of a sign that had "_Let us in mother fuckers_!" written in green spray paint.

Kagami glared at her; at this point she didn't have anything to say to her. This is what it was like to be completely at a loss for words. Instead of dealing with the blue haired problem ,she decided to help Tsukasa to her feet.

"Come on you." She said as she hoisted her sister up. Tsukasa instantly flinched away and fell back down; even more tears began to run down her face.

"Tsukasa what's wrong-" Then it hit her, it was hard to see with contrast of her dark blue jumpsuit, but her little sister was bleeding on the arm she tried to hoist her up with.

"You're bleeding!" She pointed out instantly. Tsukasa blushed, and Kagami couldn't help but wonder how she would be embarrassed by this. Konata instantly rushed up to see for herself.

Kagami tried to pull her sleeve back to take a better look but Tsukasa was reluctant and pushed them both away, and scooted backwards while kicking up small clouds of dust.

"Tsukasa, we need to take a look at that. It could get infected and we don't know what kind of things are out here." Kagami said, trying to convince her to stop scooting away.

Silently Tsukasa agreed, and they pulled her sleeve back. In the chaos only minutes before now, one of the security guards had managed to graze her with one of her bullets. "Alright, I'll tear off part of my lab coat and we can use that as tourniquet." Kagami said, and tore off part of the sleeve of her Vault-Tec lab coat.

"Kagami, no need to fear you have me!" Konata chimed in, and stood proudly over them.

"And you know first aid?" Kagami knew Konata didn't have any survival skills like that. She, herself, only knew basic first aid, Tsukasa had further practice with it but wasn't in any condition to apply it to herself at the moment though.

"Better than first aid!" She instantly retrieved a large hypodermic needle from the messenger bag she had been carrying the whole time. Kagami instantly realized what that was. All of a sudden she was a little less mad at Konata about all of this.

"Is that a stimpak?" Tsukasa asked when she saw it; her spirits were a little brighter. Miyuki had told her about them and her first aid training class had covered them a bit too. Stimpaks were needles that applied blank stim cells to the targeted area. They could be used to treat nearly any type of injury up to microwave burns and radiation. The stim cells were modified to work within minutes instead of hours and days though. This had made them ideal for even military use.

"It sure is my bow wearing friend." Konata assured her. "I grabbed about ten of these little babies from my dad's office and all sorts of things that can help us." _Stim…baby…ha, I get it. Play on words. _Kagami thought, she felt insane when those thoughts surfaced. Here she was with her sister who had suffered a bullet wound, and she was picking apart Konata's speech for coincidental things like that.

The wound on her arm wasn't to grave, just a grazing cut really. But enough to make her loose a bit of blood and stain most of her upper arm red, this immediately caused her to turn pale and nauseous as soon as she saw it. The skin around the graze stood up and formed a carnal chasm against her arm.

They applied the needle to the wound on Tsukasa, and almost instantly the pain went away as the cells went to work patching her up.

"What else did you grab Kona-chan?" Tsukasa asked after her makeshift surgery. She knew Kagami was going to be really hard on their friend about this, so she saw it as her job to be the optimistic one out of the three of them. But already Konata was doing a better job than her.

"I'm glad you asked." Konata said with her famous Izumi family smile. "Gather around Tsundere's and Imouto's and take a look into my magic bag."

"Just get on with it." Kagami said, ending her spectacle.

"Sure, sure." Konata displayed her loot from her escape from Vault 101. A 10mm pistol with three extra clips, nine stimpaks now, a Vault-Tec limited addition bobble-head, some bobby pins, a screw driver, and a bag of Doritos. Not the greatest inventory but it would last them for awhile.

"Tsukasa do you have anything on you?" Kagami doubted it, but it was worth a shot.

"Just this." She replied and produced a small bottle of Balsamic Vinegar from her pockets. Tsukasa had an adamant belief that there was no food that didn't go great without the stuff. She had also once incidentally learned that is was very volatile when mixed with other substances.

"And I got nothing, besides my normal medications." Kagami admitted.

"Medication?" Tsukasa asked in her daze.

"Yes, I take high blood pressure medicine, and medication for something else." She answered shyly.

"High blood pressure? Does that mean you rage yourself into a heart attack?" Konata chimed in.

Kagami sighed. "Actually I did have a mild heart attack once, so yes in layman's term you're right. But mostly it makes me extremely irrational and hard to work with." Konata giggled profusely like this and begun thinking of all the jokes about her anger she could use now.

"What's the other medication for Onee-chan?" Tsukasa asked, she was still woozy from the stimpak, little did she know it also gave her a low dose of morphine to dull the pain.

"Mild schizophrenia." Kagami said in a barely audible whisper.

"So you rage into heart attacks and are insane too?" Konata asked trying hard not to giggle. She was not succeeding.

"Hey it's just because occasionally at night I hear imaginary people talking loudly and it's hard to sleep, it's not like I have voices telling me to kill people!" Kagami shouted back, she instantly regretted telling them about this.

"Why did you never tell us this before?" Tsukasa asked in her sleepy monotone voice.

"Because I knew she'd react like this!" Kagami yelled pointing at Konata. "Anyways…" She said after taking a breath to calm down. "Konata I have a few things I need to ask you."

"Yes Kagamin?" Konata knew what she was going to say.

"Want to explain to us what the hell just happened, why they shot at my sister, and why your dad decided it was a good idea to leave!?" And she was correct.

Konata told her what she knew, which wasn't much. Her dad went AWOL, Miyuki woke her up, the security guards shot at them and here they were.

"…and now it we should probably look for my dad." She finished.

"No, we should stay here and wait for them to let us back in." Kagami argued. They battled over it for several minutes; Konata knew that they needed to find her dad to make sure he was okay. Anything was better than the vault. But Kagami told her that it was all a misunderstanding and they would be let back in soon.

"I dunno, they seemed pretty adamant about shooting us and closing the gate." Konata shrugged.

"Well if you hadn't shot at them maybe they wouldn't have reacted that way!" Kagami yelled back. It was hard for her to get over the fact that Konata had killed someone, honest to god ended another life.

"Kona-chan is right." Tsukasa muttered beneath their arguing.

"Tsukasa you are in no condition to be making decisions." Kagami told her with a hint of arrogance. Tsukasa frowned and looked down at her booted feet, secretly she hated when her sister said stuff like that. She knew Kagami was the smartest, strongest, and over all more well rounded of the two, and was a prodigy at everything she did it seemed; but that didn't make Tsukasa's opinion instantly invalid. In a way Kagami's excellence made Tsukasa strive harder to impress everyone and try to match the standard her sister had set.

"No, she's right we should leave." She said again.

"Woo imouto is on my side!" Konata shouted happily.

"Think about it sis, our Pip-Boys have an emergency broadcast system that was made for scouting parties so they could be told when to return, The range is about fifty miles if I remember right." Tsukasa told them. Kagami was shocked, how could she have forgotten that? She was right, when Miyuki convinced her mother to let them back in, they would just broadcast it to them.

"You're right." Kagami admitted. "But just look around, where would we even begin to look?" The wastes stretched out endlessly in all directions the only sign of life was the ruins of the city in the distance. Even that didn't look even remotely hospitable.

Other than that there was a billboard showing the Vault-Tec poster boy holding a sign saying "Don't kill your whole family, reserve your spot in a vault today!" A smaller poster had been pasted over it; surprisingly it looked like it had been placed there almost recently. It wasn't decaying or falling off at all.

This smaller, but still rather large, poster showed a man in metal power armor giving a dirty looking child a piggy back ride, there was a logo with the letter "E" surrounded by stars. In the corner it said "Enclave, liberating America. Show your support for Enclave, today and join President Eden and Colonel Nanako Kuroi today and bring prosperity back to the wastes."

Kagami studied the billboard for a bit, maybe there was an organized government after all? Perhaps there were still cities and this "Enclave" was establishing them.

"I see some houses down there!" Konata pointed out after several minutes of silence. "Let's start our search there!" Kagami and Tsukasa shrugged. It was as good as anywhere else to start looking.

**ENJOY YOUR STAY IN SCENIC SPRINGVALE!**

It turned out this cluster of burnt out houses used to be a little town called Springvale, it seemed devoid of life and every door was either locked or boarded shut. And if they weren't then the three of them had no way to get to them, all the other doors were buried in debris.

"Well that wasn't very exciting." Konata mumbled while drawing circles in the dirt.

"I see a school in the distance but really I can't find a single reason of why we would go there." Kagami pointed out. "Where did Tsukasa go?" She pointed out after realizing she had wandered off.

"Maybe nature called." Konata suggested. "We're free women now, no longer bound by the shackles of toiletry."

"I don't find comfort in that." Kagami muttered, wishing she could go home.

Meanwhile Tsukasa managed to find one house that wasn't boarded up or locked; she casually stepped inside and heard an interesting noise. Music. An old American patriotic tune playing, she followed it to its source. Tsukasa had heard that song before but couldn't place a name on it, it consisted mainly of a flute with a snare drum accompaniment. The version she had heard before had been done by piano.

It was coming from the kitchen, there was a small radio playing it.

"Freeze right there and give me one reason why I shouldn't blast a whole in you!" A voice commanded from behind her. Tsukasa and turned around to meet the owner of this home. She was facing a woman in her early twenties with messy platinum blonde hair and dirty, torn up clothes. Her clothes looked like they were made out of some kind of tanned hide.

"I-is this your house?" Tsukasa stuttered noticing she had a small revolver fixed on her. "I didn't know, I-I'll just be going now…" She tried to slowly squirm away.

"Wait, did Misao send you?" The woman asked, still aiming at Tsukasa.

"I-I don't know any Misao's." Tsukasa squeaked. That must have been the magic word because the girl put her gun down.

"Sorry I thought you were some merc that Misao sent after me. Name's Silver." The girl said.

"P-pleased to meet you. I-I'm Tsu-Tsukasa." She slowly introduced herself. In the last thirty minutes she had a gun pointed at her twice.

"Say could you do me a big favor?" Silver asked like she hadn't been pointing a gun at her. Tsukasa assumed that was just wasteland etiquette, everyone pointed guns at everyone else.

"Uh, s-sure?" Tsukasa replied, secretly she was terrified about what this girl was going to ask.

"Next time you stop in Megaton, give Misao these caps. You can keep a hundred for yourself. She thinks I stole them and that I owe her." Silver explained and handed Tsukasa a burlap sack of bottle caps. "There are 400 caps in there."

"Yeah, sure I'll do that." Tsukasa said and took the bag; she wondered why in the world anyone would want a bag of bottle caps.

"Thanks sugar, now you can go on your way." Silver said and nudged her to the door.

**TSUKASA, THE LITTLE SOCIAL BUTTERFLY**

"Hee-chan there you are!" Konata cried at Tsukasa upon her return. Tsukasa looked surprised; Konata assumed it was from her almost never used nickname.

"You'll never believe what happened to me!" Tsukasa exclaimed. "Some girl held me at gun point, and then gave me a bag of bottle caps to give to her friend's bottle cap collection to give to her in a town called Magnatron!" Konata and Kagami eyed her suspiciously.

"Tsukasa, that's just the morphine talking." Kagami told her. "If you're going to be like this every time you use a stimpak then try not to get shot." Tsukasa glared at her wide-eyed not quite understanding what she meant.

"Anyhoos," Konata chimed in. "We found a sign that said 'this way to Megaton' we think it's a city."

"Yes, and we plan to go there and search for Izumi-san." Kagami added.

"Silly Kagamin I'm right here." Konata chuckled.

"I meant your father." Kagami rolled her eyes.

And off they went.

"So what do think happened to other vaults Kagami?" Konata asked midway through their walk.

"More than likely they all left to settle the wastes." Kagami answered. "The majority of the vaults were only designed to house people for about one generation. Ours was one of the nine out of the hundred twenty something that was designed to last indefinitely."

"Oh, well that's not very exciting." Konata said with less enthusiasm. "I thought something cool would happen like their water purification chip breaking so they would have to send someone out to fix it."

"That doesn't sound exciting at all. Going out alone with everyone depending on you." Tsukasa pointed out. "And what if you came back and the overseer didn't let you in because you now an outsider?"

"It gets better!" Konata assured her. "Then midway through their journey they find out that the government created a forced evolution virus that created mutants. And these mutants try to turn all the people into the vault into mutants too! But our hero stops them and then establishes a tribal village, which he lives out the rest of his days. Oh yeah then years later these monsters with huge claws that look like demons overrun the vault and take it over. But their actually nice monsters who help a descendent of the original hero about eighty years later and give him a Garden of Eden Creation Kit to save their village."

"Konata?" Kagami said after she proudly finished her story.

"Yes?"

"What the fuck are you babbling about?" Tsukasa blushed at her sisters harsh language.

Soon massive walls constructed of rusty scrap metal and other junk came into view. Kagami was thankful and even Tsukasa had to admit it was nice to hear Konata stop singing once it came into view. For the last hour of their walk Konata had been singing along to a radio station she had found on her Pip-Boy.

Galaxy News Radio is what it was called, the reception was fuzzy but still they were able to make out most of it. The DJ was a colorful person who went by the name Three Dog. He did have a good degree of soul, Kagami had to admit. He would occasionally go on about fighting the good fight and not pissing raiders and Super Mutants off. Then he would play old prewar music, prewar music which Konata seemed to know by heart no matter how obscure the song seemed to be.

"It does exist!" Konata squealed and fell to her knees. "Sorry, had to get that out." She said answered the Hiiragi sisters odd looks.

The three of them wandered around the metal walls until eventually they found what looked to be the entrance.

"Onee-chan what is THAT?!" Tsukasa screamed, pointing at what seemed to be a two-headed cow carrying a large pack of stuff on top of it.

"The radiation probably created…what ever that is." Kagami shrugged, not knowing the answer herself. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Konata drinking from a puddle with cupped hands.

"Wait Konata stop!" She yelled and rushed over to her.

"What? I was thirsty!" Konata complained as she was dragged away from the water source.

"Turn on your Pip-Boys Geiger counter." Kagami commanded and did so herself.

"I didn't know it came with one of those." Konata noted and found the button in plain sight. As soon it turned on it started clicking once held near the water.

"What does the clicking mean?" Tsukasa asked, sadly she felt like that was something she should know.

"It means it's irradiated." Kagami explained. Konata and Tsukasa just looked at her. "This means if you drink it you get irradiated too."

"Is that bad?" Tsukasa asked. Suddenly she felt it was strange that after eighteen years of living in a vault built to protect her from radiation she didn't know anything about it beyond "_It's best to generally avoid it_."

"I don't know all the details but if you drink too much of it you get radiation sickness which can make your skin and hair flake away and eventually kill you." Kagami answered. Konata instantly stuck her finger in the back of her throat and vomited.

"Kona-chan!?" The Hiiragi sisters shouted in unison.

"Sorry, had to save my hair." Konata said through her coughs and cradled her knee length blue hair.

"Damn it, you'd have to be exposed to it for a while to get radiation sickness!" Kagami yelled at her. "Look, on your Pip-Boy there's a meter that shows how irradiated you are." Tsukasa and Konata found it after several minutes of scrolling and button pushing.

"Alright your radiation count is displayed in units called _Rads._" Kagami explained. "The human body can take about a thousand Rads before it either decays to a state where all your skin and hair rots away or you die. However, radiation sickness also occurs in increments of two-hundred. This means at two-hundred Rads you'd contract minor radiation sickness, then major, then advanced, then critical. You get the idea."

"Wow Onee-chan you know almost as much as Miyuki." Tsukasa complimented.

"Heh, thanks but Miyuki is more of a factoid. Since I'm in charge of Vault-Tec equipment I did a lot of study on prewar stuff and things like that."

"What's your favorite prewar technology?" Konata asked excitedly.

"Hm? I dunno, what's yours?" Kagami replied.

"Definitely all the videogames they had. I hope we can dig up an old prewar console or something." She said ecstatically. Konata really hoped they could bring back and game system with a whole library of games to play for the rest of their lives. "What's yours Tsukasa?"

"Sowing machines." She replied instantly. The other two just glared at her. "So Onee-chan did you think of an answer?"

"Energy weapons." She said curtly.

"Energy wha?" Tsukasa said, clearly puzzled. Kagami realized that Tsukasa probably knew nothing outside of her home economics skills.

"Energy weapons." Kagami repeated. "They were developed around 2060 in barely got any war use but they were devastating."

"That doesn't sound like Kagamin, I thought you were going to say something like libraries or garbage trucks." Konata said, mesmerized by this development.

"Why not energy weapons?" Kagami asked ignoring the garbage truck comment. "I mean frankly they're badass. Normal guns just put bullets in people while energy weapons burn chunks out of people and melt metal and all around kick ass!" She explained excitedly.

"Kagami…" Konata said quietly. "I don't know it this is your tsuntsun or deredere side but I don' know if I like it or not." She noticed the fiery spark in her tsunderes eyes. She grabbed her by the pigtails and dragged her along. "I always knew precision super heated plasma and lasers were your turn on."

"Konata let go, we've been through this, pulling hair hurts!" Kagami whined and tried to get her tiny and eccentric friend to let go of her. Tsukasa could only giggle; it felt good to see them engage in their usual warfare. It felt more like home.

They reached the massive gates and almost instantly with a hellish metal screech they raised revealing a much smaller double door. A man positioned on a metal tower above the gates waved at them. They waved back at the first human they had seen so far.

"Welcome to Megaton, please stand clear of the gate." A bipedal robot that vaguely resembled a stocky metal human with a glass plate for a face said a just a moment too late.

They entered.

The town was built around a crater. The houses were built from all sorts of scrap metal and junk. Buildings built up the slopes of the crater were situation on top of the ones on the bottom. They were held up by all sorts of metal supports and pipes. In the center there was the thing the town was named after.

An undetonated nuclear warhead.

"Well I'll be damned, another newcomer!" A man greeted them. He wore a sheriff's duster complete with a gold star badge and a ten gallon hat. He sported a dark beard that went well with his dark complexion. "Welcome to Megaton and-"

"Pshh nice hat Calamity Jane." Konata teased.

"Oh, so that's the way it's going to be." He said darkly. Kagami pushed Konata out of the way and tried to recover this greeting.

"Sorry about her sir." She said, blushing at Konata's introduction. "I'm Kagami Hiiragi and this is my sister Tsukasa. You've already met Konata unfortunately." She extended her hand for a handshake.

He obliged. "Well, friendly and well mannered. I get the feeling we'll get along just fine. Names Lucas Simms by the way."

Kagami nodded. "By the way, we're looking for Konata's father. Maybe you've seen him. Middle aged guy, a blunette." She asked.

"I don't have the time to keep track of every newcomer. You should try Misao's saloon, she keeps track of people better than I do. If you need anything stop in at The Craterside Supply, a girl named Yui runs the place. She's a bit of an odd one but she's has a nice selection and has knack for repairing things." They nodded in understanding and he went on his way.

"So Konata are you going to meet this Misao?" Tsukasa asked after Simms left.

"I guess." Konata shrugged almost like she was uninterested.

"I need to go with you too." Tsukasa declared happily. "I need to give her this bottle cap collection!"

Kagami watched them walked off and found her way to Craterside Supply. Beats standing around doing nothing she concluded.

The store was small and the air was stagnant with dust and grime. In the corner a middle age man glanced at her, she noted his leather garments and assault rifle, and also mentally noted not piss him off.

"Hey! I hear you're that stray from the vault!" A woman with dark green hair and glasses greeted her. She had the mechanic look with her Rob-Co company blue jumpsuit. Kagami mentally noted that Rob-Co was the company that worked with Vault-Tec before the war, how she got that jumpsuit was beyond her.

"I'm Kagami Hiiragi." She introduced herself. "I'm here with my sister and our friend."

"There are more of you?" Yui smiled a grin that Kagami didn't like at all. It was just like Konata's mischievous cat grin, so alike that they could have been related.

**MISAO KUSAKABE**

"Oi! You must be little Konata Izumi!" A girl with brown hair and amber eyes yelled out almost as soon as Konata entered the saloon. It was a bit neater than Yui's store but still dirty and grimy by vault standards. There were several other patrons here as well, a man in a neat business suit and hat that gave Konata the creeps. Behind the bar besides the girl that addressed them was another woman with orange hair wearing a rather revealing outfit and a man who was too obscured for her to make out any features.

"Yeah, that's me." Konata said nervously. In a post apocalyptic world, it worried her when people knew her by name.

"I'm Misao and this is my saloon." She said waving her arms around, Konata noticed that one of her canines was viciously long, yet strangely cute.

"How did you know my name exactly?" Konata asked cautiously.

"Well, how many other girls with an _ahoge _like that named Izumi are there?" Misao smirked, the _ahoge _comment had been a reference to the omnipresent crescent shaped lock of hair that hovered about Konata's head . Konata placed her and on her 10mm pistol incase this crazy girl tried to eat her or something.

"I see your confusion." Misao noted. "Okay no more games. Your dad came through here about nineteen years ago; you were just a wee little lass with nary a tit to suckle." Konata did not like her choice of words, not one bit.

"Wait, that's not possible." Konata interjected.

"How do you figure that?" Misao said with a smirk that hinted she knew what was coming next.

"My dad said I was born in Vault 101." Konata said, matter-of-factly.

"Oh the lies we tell the ones we love." Misao replied and shook her head. "Okay, he stopped by here not too long ago, he stepped in and we talked a bit. A great guy your dad is, a real stand up kind of person. He mumbled something some scientific stuff about his late wife's dream. Listen kid, you wanna know where your dad is or not?"

"How did you know I was looking for him?" Konata didn't quite approve of this Misao girl. And "kid"? Misao looked barely eighteen herself, but if she knew her dad back then… Just how old was she?

"The look on your face says it all." She replied. "Anyways remember information isn't cheap around here."

"I have to pay you don't I?" Konata groaned.

"Three-hundred caps." Misao told her.

"Oh yeah that reminds me, a girl named Silver told me to give you this bottle cap collection!" Tsukasa spoke up and tossed Misao the bag of caps.

"That'll do." She replied and caught it.

"I'll back with those bottle caps." Konata said glumly and walked out.

After they left the saloon Tsukasa spoke up. "Why does that person like bottle caps so much?"

"I dunno, maybe she's a major collector or something. Or possibly insane." Konata suggested.

"Anyways let's go meet up with Onee-chan, I think I saw her go into that building there." Tsukasa said and pointed at The Craterside Supply.

**YUI NARUMI, SCIENTIST AND MECHANIC**

"Can I get a statement from each of you for my book?" Yui said instantly when they walked in. They both saw Kagami leaning against the wall wearing a 101 jumpsuit, just this one was different. It was dirtier and all sorts of scrap metal had been sown on for protection, the most outstanding feature was the jagged shard of metal on her right shoulder.. Her previous one was folded neatly on a chair with her lab coat on top of it.

"Wha-?" Tsukasa stammered. She was having a tough time with people addressing her instantly with questions like that.

"She's writing a survival guide, she wants our input on vault life." Kagami explained.

"W-Well…" Tsukasa stuttered. "It's really scary out here and I miss my sisters Inori, and Matsuri along with my mother. Plus this main room you call outside is gigantic! I can't even see the ceiling." She didn't know why her sister and Konata chuckled at this.

"Konata, your turn." Kagami said still giggling at Tsukasa sentiment.

"The vault was cramped and the food sucked." Was all she had to say about it.

"But I made your food!" Tsukasa cried.

"This will all be great for the book!" Yui shouted happily. "Hey I have an idea, why don't the three of you help me with it. I'll pay you with caps and supplies and it'll be fun!"

"Sorry, but we're preoccupied with-" Kagami tried to answer.

"Caps! We need caps!" Konata interrupted.

"Her too?" Tsukasa said in surprise. "Why does everyone love bottle caps so much!?" She cried out, startling everyone in the room.

"It's the currency in the wastes." Kagami answered.

"Oh. That explains a bit." Tsukasa said, and looked down at her feet.

"But Konata, why do we need caps right now? We're supposed to be looking for your dad I thought." Kagami asked. She tried to think of what would make Konata need money like this so quickly.

"Misao, the lady at the saloon, knows where she went but wants 300 caps for it." Konata answered. "So let's write this book!"

"I'll do the writing. You do the research." Yui corrected.

"Aww, I hate studying." Konata whined. Even out here you had to study to get by.

"This won't be normal studying don't worry." Yui assured them.

Kagami groaned and wondered what get got herself into.

**0/300 CAPS**

So that's it for chapter two. I just want to address a couple things about the story…

Okay first nearly every single Lucky Star character here is the wrong age for the character they play. Moriarty who was replaced by Misao is like forty or fifty years old. Hiyori, who appears later, is also around the same age as Misao. Other characters that appear as well will also be the incorrect age. I think the only people who show up in this story that are the correct age are the four girls and their family, Yutaka and Kuroi.

Another issue that may cause some thinkings on by some people. Stimpaks, in the story I had them heal wounds quickly but not instantly. I didn't say so but Tsukasa's wound was almost completely healed into about ten minutes. Since in the game they healed instantly and could be used multiple times it was hard to translate realistically into the story.

That random story that Konata tells about what she thinks happened to other vault is actually true. She vaguely described the plot of the first Fallout game and one part of the sequel.

This could be considered a spoiler but it won't be mentioned into story and its obscure enough knowledge to come by anyway. The armored 101 jumpsuit that Kagami got at the end of the story is a suit that Yui made for another vault dweller that stopped by over a decade ago. This vault dweller was actually Yukari Takara's husband and Miyuki's father, who sadly met his end when exploring the ruins of a town called Old Olney and was promptly killed and eaten by Deathclaws. This to some extent explains Yukari's isolationist ideas with vault, out of fear of other residents meeting the same fate.

The radiation in the story works exactly like it does in the game. But I really doubt there's any chance any of them would reach 1000 rads, because quite frankly I would not want to see any of them as a ghoul.

Read on as the three of them are challenged by the wastes, their bonds tested, and their lives threatened.

One other stupid thing. My inspiration song for this chapter would definitely have to be _Blackened _by _Metallica _just because it's about the end of the world. Plus it was the song that popped into my mind with I first played FO3 and wandered out of Vault 101. A lot of songs are like this for me, they just remind of this story for no real reason, while on the other hand I can find songs that fit lyrically word for word.


	3. Survival of the Luckiest

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 3- SURVIVAL OF THE LUCKIEST **

Once again, all that was here were authors notes that are now irrelevant. Not to mention they would be misleading since I put things there that ended up changing. In a nutshell all that was here were just random predictions by me.

**RESURFACED DREAMS**

"Come here I want to show you something." Sojiro said to his now one year old daughter. She couldn't understand him completely but she recognized his hand gestures and crawled across the floor away from her book, "_You're Special_" A book that told kids they were unique, she just liked the pictures though.

He hefted little Konata up into his arms, she sputtered in baby talk and bopped his face once or twice. He ignored the assault and showed her two pictures that were on his desk. One of him and his late wife standing on the bridge of Rivet City and a framed bible verse.

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." He read out loud. "It was your mother's favorite passage." This passage had inspired her to begin her project.

His dream faded away and he awoke on the naval cot he'd spent the night on, a lot had transpired the day before and today could probably be even rougher. Especially considering his hold lab partner Hiyori had declined his offer to pick the project.

**TSUKASA'S SCIENTIFIC SACRIFICE**

Tsukasa could only wonder how she got into this mess.

"Go on and drink from there!" Konata cheered on. She was standing in front of the massive undetonated bomb; a large puddle of stagnant, greenish water surrounded it.

"Why do I have to do it?" She moaned.

"Tsukasa, we've been through this." Konata answered.

"No we haven't." Tsukasa cried in protest.

"Yeah I know. Anyways the longer you stand there talking, the longer it's going to take for you to obtain advanced radiation sickness." Konata told her. The first job was for Yui to study someone with radiation sickness and how to possibly avoid it. Konata had volunteered Tsukasa.

Tsukasa kneeled down again and grimaced at the horrible, horrible water. Her Geiger counter was already ticking. Which, she supposed, was a good thing given the circumstances. She cupped the water and took a sip, her Geiger counter exploded in a series of clicks when she swallowed it. Surprisingly it didn't taste terrible, just not good.

"That'll take too long." Konata told her. "Stick your face in, and just gulp it down until you get advanced sickness."

"I-if you say so…" Tsukasa muttered and bent down again. She hoped her sister was having better luck with her job.

**KAGAMI'S SHOPPING TRIP**

Kagami's task wasn't probably more difficult and she had to go alone, but she felt up to it. Just go into an old Super Duper Mart chain store and check to see how the medicine and food held up, and report how easy it was to obtain. To aid her she brought a stimpak with her along with a Chinese pistol with two clips of ammunition. It wasn't a strong handgun, and she had never fired one in her life, but it was better than nothing.

The trip there only took about twenty minutes and it was a downhill slope. She hopped a rusted fence and jogged over to the building. All of a sudden it didn't look very safe.

Mutilated bodies were hung by the roof by chains and other bits of gore and body parts were strewn about. Judging by the bloody splatters, Kagami guessed that most of the subjects had died from gunshot wounds, then someone body painstakingly hacked them up and put them on display. She felt like she was walking into a one way portal to the abyss.

Out of all the carnage she spotted a lone figure standing next to one of those two-headed cows she'd seen earlier. Next to him was a Mister Handy model robot. When she saw the designs and improved weaponry she corrected herself and realized it was Mister Gutsy model. One used for military purposes.

She braced for the robot to open fire and melt her with its plasma weapons, but to her surprise, the man just waved.

"H-hello?" She stuttered, and walked closer to him.

"Hey, wastelander." He greeted. "What brings you down this way?" He was wearing a heavy jacket and every single pocket seemed to be filled with all sorts of junk.

"I was hired to check out this building." Kagami admitted. She couldn't think of any reason why telling him would be a bad idea.

"Oh, well good luck then. Lots of raiders in there, I'd recommend going stealthy." And with that he walked off onto this next wasteland adventure.

She didn't care much for the advice but it was good to know there may be opposition. That guy Three Dog on the radio would never shut up about how dangerous they were. She would see for herself.

**MEANWHILE…**

"Congratulations, you now are suffering from advanced radiation sickness. Medical help is recommended." Tsukasa's Pip-Boy told her in a cheery voice. She was soaking wet and laying the dirt, a nap seemed like a good idea right now. Except she had to throw up again.

"Tsukasa?" Konata said and poked her face several times. "Tsukasa~"

"Just five more minutes." She muttered and rolled over.

"Oh, good you're out cold." Konata said, and began to drag her back to the Yui to be a test subject. She felt proud that Tsukasa could be sacrificed to science and not something worse like a bear or a giant scorpion. Or whatever the wastes held.

She also realized that the nuclear bomb just sitting there was actually still quite active and could probably be detonated if someone screwed around with it. _Someone should do something about that_ she thought and carried on dragging Tsukasa.

**RAIDERS ARE NOT FRIENDLY!**

"Why are you shooting at me!?" Kagami screamed, and took cover behind the customer service counter. Bullets whizzed past her hiding spot, and she kept crawling to avoid being shot into pieces.

The raiders who inhabited the Super Duper Mart had opened fire on her almost immediately. She managed to take cover but she couldn't find an opening to fire back at them. Not to mention the store was dark and she had never fired a gun before.

Tears rolled down her face, _Oh god, I'm going to die here_ she realized. It was a stupid pointless death, she supposed but then again there were worse ways to go. A table in front of her exploded after taking one too many shots, its contents spilled to the ground. In front of her now was prewar food wrappers, empty soda bottles, random scrap metal, _oh what's this? _She spotted a pistol; no it wasn't a normal pistol. She picked it up and examined it.

Kagami felt she could fare better with a laser pistol. No recoil and she had worked with precision lasers before in vault repair. Yes, this would fair nicely.

**DR. YUI TO THE RESCUE**

"Oh wow this is great!" Yui exclaimed. "I've never gotten a chance to study some one so heavily dosed. Normally people just yell at me whine and tell me to fix them up, usually with mean, mean words. Hiiragi here seems to be taking it quite well." She typed up a few things on her computer terminal and examined Tsukasa again.

"So, how do you feel?" She asked, eagerly awaiting her patients answer.

Tsukasa muttered something along the lines of "Kill me." But honestly it was hard for either Konata or Yui to be sure.

"I think it adds to her glowing personality." Konata said, and pinched Tsukasa's cheek.

"Aw, that's a terrible joke." Yui replied, sounding like that was a good thing.

After another hour of poking and prodding at Tsukasa's unconscious body Yui finally spoke up. "Well I'll just apply this home made concoction and it should flush all the radiation out of her system."

"You can do that?" Konata asked excitedly. She may not end up loosing her hair after all if she decided to go for a swim.

"We've been dealing with radiation for two-hundred years. We've found ways to counter it. I think this antidote is safe…" Yui explained, not sounding so sure.

She stabbed a few hypodermic needles into Tsukasa, it made her look like a pincushion but it was for a good cause. She also gave her a smiley face band aid where each needle was placed. It was her way of saying "I'm sorry I played with your DNA like a kitten with a ball of yarn."

After twenty or so minutes of looking after the younger twin, the older one finally returned for her trip.

Konata gasped when she got a look at her. Kagami was bandaged in several places and the bandages had already been stained red, over her shoulder she was carrying a burlap sack that contained to food and medicine she was sent to obtain.

"Kagami, you don't look so good, What happened?" Kagami ignored her and dropped the bag in front of Yui.

"I would appreciate if next time you tell me if there are raiders when I go on a errand for you." She growled and collapsed in the cot next to her sister, it was tight squeeze on the cot, but she would manage.

"Yeah, yeah, scary people with guns we get it. So what did you find?" Yui asked excitedly.

"I got the food which the raiders were stockpiling, there were some medical supplies but those were harder to get. Oh yeah, then there was a robot." Kagami answered trying her best to sound clear and concise.

"So no prewar food?" Yui asked, she was pretty much ignoring the state of her research assistant.

"Of course not!" Kagami snapped. "It's a large retail store near middle class suburbs, it would have been completely looted a week after the bombs hit" She had come to the conclusion that Tsukasa and Konata probably could probably do a better job coming up ideas to obtain food this than this chick.

Yui guiltily picked up the bag and went away to take notes.

"You saw raiders? What were they like?" Konata asked, and jumped up and down in excitement.

"They were wearing very revealing armor, and they shot at me. A lot." Kagami muttered, and closed her eyes to try and grab a nap.

"Oh by the way?" Kagami asked.

"What is it my battle-worn tsundere?" Konata answered cheerfully.

"Why does Tsukasa smell like vomit and stale water…also if I move my left arm towards her, why does it triggers my Geiger counter?" Kagami asked, in reality she actually didn't want to know the answer. She knew it would upset her.

"Welll…" Konata began. "Yeah…anyways what was fighting raiders like?"

Kagami wasn't quite expecting an answer anyways. "I pointed my gun at them and I shot at them, they did the same thing. Sometimes I missed and sometimes I didn't." She made a gun with her fingers and pointed it at Konata, "Pew pew pew." She muttered and dozed off.

Konata came to the conclusion that was the cutest thing she had ever seen her friend do.

"I know I'm hard on you sometimes." Kagami continued, Konata began to wonder if she was okay or not. In the head, not the body. "But you're my best friend, sure Miyuki and I shared common interests but we all secretly know she's a closet sociopath and will probably kill and eat all of us one day." Konata blinked at her.

"Good to know?" She answered, she a little surprised at her friends behavior. "Say, Kagamin, are you feeling alright? You seem a little…not normal."

"Me?" Kagami yelped like Konata had said something extremely cruel and harsh. "I'm just fine. You are the not normal one."

"Anyways." Konata said instantly changing the subject. "We need to find adequate shelter, sure sleeping in the dirt for one night is fine but I doubt we can keep that up." But the one time she was serious, Kagami seemed completely out of it.

"The ground is comfy though." She muttered for a reply.

"Kagami, what happened to you? You've engaged in role reversal with me, and really that's not good for the survival of our group." Konata said still, sounding serious.

"What do you mean?" Kagami replied defensively. "I told you. I had a fire fight that I barely remember, and then I looted the place and took two stimpaks. One of the ones I took though looked odd though."

"Do you still have the empty needle?" Konata asked, she believed she was onto something here.

"Yeah it's in my bag." Kagami replied. Konata found her messenger back that took with her. She found a hypodermic needle which was much larger than a stimpak and much dirtier and looked held together with electrical tape. Her detective skills were paying off. She quickly found Yui.

"Hey can you tell me what this is?" She said, holding out the needle for Yui to examine.

"Oh that's Psycho, I don't recommend messing with it." She answered, barely taking her eyes off her notes.

"Psycho?" Konata replied raising an eyebrow. _Was Psycho being used as a noun or an adjective in this case_? She wondered.

"Right, you're new. Sorry forgot." Yui shrugged. She was having a tough time remembering these research assistants were new to the wastes. It felt ironic using them to write a survival guide on. "It's a drug that pretty much makes that part of your brain that restrains you blank out for a few hours." She replied and went back to writing about how preserved food was relatively easy to obtain if you were willing to be shot at. Konata rushed back to her friend share the news.

"Kagami…" She giggled. "That wasn't a stimpak you used."

Her tsundere friend glared up at her. "Oh, then what was it?" Kagami could detect an air of arrogance like she knew that she was instantly correct.

"Drugs!" Konata cheered, like it was all of a sudden something worth celebrating. Kagami rolled over to hide her blushing face.

After a few hours Tsukasa finally woke up and Kagami sobered up. Yui thanked them and presented some rewards for their efforts. Fifty bottle caps; a medicinal IV needle and bag used for clearing radiation, aptly named RadAway by whatever company had previously designed it. They also got a banquet dinner of squirrel stew and 200 year old Salisbury stake that had somehow managed to be preserved. All the food contained minor radiation.

"Good new everyone!" Yui spoke up halfway through their meal. "Tomorrow we can finish the first chapter of the book!"

Konata cheered at the new, the Hiiragi twins groaned in unison, considering both of them were exhausted from today's work.

Yui allowed them to rest for the night in her store, the ground was terribly uncomfortable but it would have to do. Konata noted Kagami's deredere side come out as she let her sister use her lab coat as a blanket. The next day Yui woke them up bright an early at the crack of dawn.

"For a long time dormant landmines have been a real big problem." Yui said, explaining the next part of the chapter. "People get careless and loose a leg a lot. So this part is going to be about the dangers of landmines and how to avoid them."

"So what we just study landmines and then say how to disarm them or something?" Kagami asked. This job sounded easy, prewar technology was her specialty after all.

"Now a controlled environment would hardly be the grounds for good advice at all." Yui told her. "So the three of you will travel northeast over the Potomac River into a little old town called Minefield.

"Potomac River…does that mean we're in Washington DC?" Kagami asked. She instantly felt stupid for not once even beginning to think about where they were even at on the globe.

"It's called the Capital Wasteland for a reason." Konata told her.

"Come on even I knew that." Tsukasa inputted. Kagami remained silent after realizing she was the only one out of them who hadn't picked up on it so far.

"Anyways…" Yui continued. "This little old town is positively covered in old landmines. So you just get in far enough to get good data on avoiding them, the playground in the center should be far enough. Oh yeah and there's legends about a ghost who haunts the place too."

"Ghost?" Tsukasa shivered. The last thing she wanted to hear was that the Capital Wasteland was infested by the undead.

"Wait, how are we even supposed to know where landmines are?" Kagami asked again, as far as she knew landmines were usually buried.

"Oh you'll know." Yui answered and left it at that.

**INTO THE WILD AND WOOLY WASTES**

"I don't get why everything here tries to kill and or eat us." Konata remarked after the crossed a dried up part of the river. "I always considered myself a generally likable person."

"Considering you haven't been harmed in anyway yet you don't get much of an opinion on that subject." Kagami replied. In their hour long walk they had already been attacked by rabid dogs and horribly large, mutated mole-rats. Konata had been impressed with Kagami's skill with her newly obtained laser pistol. Kagami just told her it wasn't much different than using a laser weld the ludicrously small components of a Pip-Boy together for repair.

"Look over there!" Tsukasa shouted and pointed at the burnt remains of about a dozen houses in the distance. She made almost a full recovery from her radiation poisoning and managed to keep all her hair and skin from falling off, but the stagnant water had given her dysentery.

"That would be it." Kagami replied and looked at the map her Pip-Boy had drawn up of the surrounding fifty miles. She marked its location and typed in "Minefield". Typing on a Pip-Boy could only be described as being trying to text on a cell phone designed by Satan himself. All she had to work with were three buttons and a scroll wheel.

"Do you think that legend about ghosts is true?" Tsukasa asked as they began their approach. The three of them were eyeing the ground carefully for any signs of explosives.

"Of course not, that's completely ridiculous." Kagami answered, and left it at that.

"Don't be so sure Kagamin." Konata spoke up; Kagami knew she was going to correct her in some way. "I talked to Misao, she said the legend is true. A ghost haunts the ruins of municipal building and kills any who enter the town. He makes their heads explode with his ghostly powers."

"That's something Tsukasa would believe, but you Konata, are smarter than that." Kagami scolded as they reached the remains of a paved street. The street winded into the town and up to the remains of skeletal building that was at least three stories high.

"There!" Konata, shouted and pointed at a glowing orange dot in front of them.

"Well this'll be easy if the mines just glow like that." Kagami said cheerfully. "Just walk around them and it'll be a synch." Her glee was shattered by a gunshot. Smoke puffed from the ground next to them.

"Every time I get excited about something someone shoots at me!" Kagami screamed and dived behind a burnt out car. The others followed suite.

"The ghost has gun!" Tsukasa cried. Kagami was forced to smash her palm into her face at that.

"Okay you two just stay here; I'll peek out and see what's up." Kagami ordered, and unholstered her laser pistol. Secretly Konata was getting a little tired of her trying to play hero.

Kagami stood up and moved into plain sight trying to see if she could see where the shot came from. She didn't have time to lament about how stupid standing out in the open was before a .308 round tore through her.

"Kagami!" Tsukasa screamed as she saw a spurt of blood erupt from her and watched her fly backwards. If the circumstances weren't so dire Konata would have noted that may have been the first time she heard Tsukasa actually use her sister's first name.

Konata rushed out and grabbed her wounded tsundere, Tsukasa aided in dragging her behind a ruined house.

"No ghost, just a sniper." Kagami managed to say through the pain, and blood dripping from her lips.

"Tsukasa you have to play nurse while I rush to the playground and back." Konata ordered. Tsukasa nodded, she just accepted the fact that this was a terrible idea and Konata would surely get killed. But still she had more knowledge on first aid out of the three of them, and could treat her sister just was well with or without Konata's help.

Before she could say anything Konata bounded off into no-mans-land. She let it drift away from her mind, for now she had a job to do.

Tsukasa tore both sleeves off her 101 jumpsuit and tied them together to make a suitable bandage for her sister. The bullet had gone right through her left a whole about five centimeters wide. She didn't know if it had penetrated any vitals or if stimpaks could even fix that.

She applied two stimpaks from the bag Konata had left with them. Back when she learned first aid she was told that multiple stimpaks should be applied depending on the degree of the wound. Tsukasa concluded that this wound required more than one.

After applying them she hefted her sister onto her lap and hugged her stomach tightly, her sister flinched but realized Tsukasa was applying pressure to the wound.

"Thanks…" She managed to mutter. In the background they heard a series of explosions go off.

**THE GAUNTLET**

Dodge the orange dots and avoid getting shot. Her mission was simple. She sprinted through Minefield, hopping over cars and fences to reach the center. Every time a shot was fired off she nearly soiled herself. One shot had been enough to down the mighty Kagami-sama. She didn't want to think one would do to her.

The objective was in sight. Konata sprinted towards the playground, hopping over land mines as she went. Luckily they were proximity based, Konata was glad whoever designed them wasn't great at trap making. When she got too close they would beep loudly for three seconds than detonate.

One of the sniper's shots managed to puncture the dormant fission battery of a prewar car causing it to detonate…which detonated another which detonated _another. _Soon a chain reaction of cars and landmines were exploding around her, blasting the blunette with heat and shrapnel.

Eventually the explosion managed to knock her off her feet. Konata scrambled to get mobile again when she felt a shot whiz pass her face; she could even feel its sting.

Amidst her sprinting she felt her face where it was stinging. Her finger was decorated with a spot of blood from that. The thought of knowing that a bullet nearly took her head off was nerve wracking. Konata realized after a second of prodding at the scratch under her left eye where exactly that shot had grazed her.

"You shot my beauty mark off!" She screamed at the direction of the shooting. It didn't matter now though, she had reached the playground. Konata tagged a rusty slide and began sprinting back.

**REGROUP**

"Still no broadcast from Vault 101." Kagami said, she managed to sound more frustrated than hurt or scared, as was the common emotion for most people who took a bullet through the stomach.

In silence, she had been debating whether she should cry and let it all out. It could either show Tsukasa that being afraid in this new world was okay, or it could show Tsukasa that her big sister was having a nervous breakdown and couldn't handle the wastes. The latter damaging both of their outlooks. But then again not crying bore its own problems. Staying strong could possibly inspire Tsukasa to stay strong or set some unrealistic standard which would crush her if she couldn't live up to.

Kagami regretted being born thirty minutes before Tsukasa. Being the big sister was difficult.

"You think Kona-chan is okay?" Tsukasa asked, she was trying to change the subject away from anything that hinted at them not being able to go home.

"I still hear gunshots so I assume so. The little brat can take care of herself." Kagami answered and stood up and stretched, her abdomen flared in pain but the bleeding had stopped. As much as she hated to admit it, Konata seemed far more adept at keeping her blood inside her body.

Kagami couldn't help but notice how pale Tsukasa was with the sleeves of her 101 jumpsuit gone. She knew she was just as pale but it was still a major contrast to the sunburned residents of the Capital Wasteland.

Waiting for Konata to return was agony for both of them. They had no way to tell if she was alive or not since the shooting and explosions had stopped. The two had nothing to really talk about or discuss so they just sat there in silence. Tsukasa passed time by taking off her bow then putting it back on over and over again; Kagami kept taking the energy cell battery out her laser pistol and placing it back to kill time herself.

The cellar door which neither of them noticed burst open, the two of them jumped to attention. Kagami swore silently as she dropped the energy cell battery when she stood up.

"War ensemble!" Konata climbed out smiling her cat grin at the twins; besides a small little scratch on her face she looked perfectly fine. She was carrying an armful of stuff.

"Kona-chan!" Tsukasa squeaked, and hugged her friend fiercely.

"And how exactly did you get in there?" Kagami asked skeptically, but she knew that she shouldn't be surprised about this kind of thing when it came to Konata.

"Front door was open." Konata replied, and dumped her loot in a pile for them to see. "I scored big!"

She had found a hunting rifle with a case of .32 rounds to accompany it, a disarmed landmine, a prewar magazine called "Nikola Tesla and You" and a miraculously preserved stuffed bear.

Konata passed out the stuff between them, the rifle for her, the landmine would go back to Yui for proof and possibly research, the magazine went to Kagami who was puzzled about why Konata thought she would even want it, and the teddy bear went to Tsukasa.

"You mean this little guy's been alone in that house for 200 years?" Tsukasa asked while cradling her new friend. "Onee-chan isn't that sad?" Kagami had to stifle laughter at the fact that her sisters eyes were actually beginning to tear up.

"You're such a kid." She said and ruffled her hair. She leafed through the magazine and found it was mildly interesting; it was just articles about various models of prewar energy weapons. There was a particularly long essay on plasma weapons which she supposed could be a good read later.

"Sun's going down." Konata remarked. She was right; none of them had realized how long they had been out here.

"We don't have to go back in the dark do we?" Tsukasa groaned. The thought of walking back at night with all sorts of nocturnal creatures hunting them was not a pleasant one. Yui had briefly listed off all kinds of monsters that hunted at night. Giant mutated albino scorpions, people who were so irradiated that they had become mindless near invincible killing machines, Mutants that dragged people off and did god knows what with them and could take multiple shots to the head with a shotgun at point blank. Just to name a few.

"We could always spend the night here." Konata said knocking on the houses wall.

"That's a great idea." Kagami replied, Konata was happy that she agreed with her for once. "If you want us have our throats slit by that insane guy who gave a courtesy shot in the stomach!" Konata's happiness was short lived.

"But you forgot one little detail." She said pulling on Kagami's twin ponytails.

"What's that?"

"You have me!" She knew that Konata had a plan.

**WASTELAND SLUMBER PARTY**

It wasn't an elaborate plan but it would do. Konata just armed the landmine and place it on the narrow stairs which led upstairs to where they slept. It would beep is the sniper came to close. Konata had become adept moving quickly enough to disarm it.

The place had a minor radroach infestation which they promptly cleared out. Upstairs they found a king sized mattress which was a little worse for ware but would suffice. Tsukasa managed to cook them up radroach steak which the three of them agreed was the most disgusting thing any of them had ever eaten. Yui, however, would probably love to hear about that.

Kagami had to compliment the sturdiness of prewar fission generators, even after this long most of them could still be reactivated. She reactivated the one in the basement and was able to give them light. None of the light penetrated the boarded up windows, so the sniper would have no idea they were there.

"I need a shower." Kagami muttered. She found the bathroom mirror was still intact and took a good look at herself. Her hair was matted and dirty, she cleaned most of it up but it was still worse than it had ever been. The rest of her body was stained with red-brown dried blood and scabs from where there stimpaks had healed over her wounds. The sink still worked but, as expected, the water caused that irritating ticking from her Geiger counter.

"Do you always sleep in your undies or is this just a special occasion?" Konata asked when Kagami collapsed on the mattress wearing nothing besides her panties, she hadn't been wearing a bra when they left. Instead of replying she pointed at her neatly folded armored jumpsuit. Konata caught on to what she meant, the suit was covered in jagged scrap metal designed for protection. It probably wasn't most comfortable sleep attire.

They sat in silence listening to the radio off of Konata's Pip-Boy. There was so much all of them wanted to discuss, but none of them could muster up any way to say it.

"It's Three-Dog!" The radio shouted as the DJ shouted introducing himself. "Hear me and obey. Oh wait that's that other radio station." He said referring to the Enclave station. Kagami had listened to that station once; it was just some pompous man sitting behind in his fortified bunker guarded by soldiers preaching about things he didn't understand.

"I got some news for y'all." He continued. "You all know those big fancy shmancy vaults? No not those creepy underground ruins filled with all sorts of ghoulies!" Kagami wondered if he always addressed imaginary responses like that. "Apparently there was still a vault right near ol' Megaton. With people living there and everything. Well someone decided to pack up and leave, and then we got three more people leave later that day. I talked to our old buddies in power armor, the Brotherhood of Steel, and they said that vaults got some serious privacy issues and don't let people in or out except for one occasion a long time ago. So what's going on then? Are they sending out scouts to plot their world domination? Civil uprising and revolt? Somebody fart? You're guess is as good as mine. Until next time this is Three Dog, awroo! And you're listening to Galaxy New Radio, now for some music."

Kagami crawled over a sleeping Konata and turned off her Pip-Boy radio to prevent her from having to hear Chris Cornell scream on about some guy that had something to with something about spoons. She wondered if Three Dog was always that hyper and obnoxious, or if news was so slow he had to report on something as minor as the three of them leaving. She didn't really think their presence phased the wasteland at all.

Her mind wandered and she thought about Konata. Part of her hated herself for how much she scolded and yelled at her for everything. She knew it would be easier and probably more cheerful if she just went along with her nonstop jokes and nonsense. When they first met nearly a decade ago she would do that but after awhile it just got old. If she had to face the remnants of the apocalypse trying kill and/or eat her, she was at least thankful she could face it with her friend.

Eventually she dozed off to sleep. All she wanted to do was finish this stupid book and get the money from that irritating little Misao. Find Konadad and go home and get back to her life where she completely each day with the same amount of blood than she had in the morning.

**DREAMSCAPES**

Kagami was back in the vault. She didn't remember showing up there but there she was. For some reason it didn't comfort her.

"Kagamin~" Konata chimed in a sing-song voice and approached her. Something about this situation was terribly, terribly wrong. "I'm so glad you decided to take my hand in marriage after all these years of playing hard to get." Konata said and hugged her apparent waifu.

"What!? Married!?" Kagami shouted, and tried to squirm away. She found she couldn't move from the spot she was standing.

"Yes married, silly. You were the one who got down on one knee!" Konata smiled, and kissed her on the cheek.

"We can't be married, we work opposite shifts!" Kagami argued, for some reason that was the only argument she could come up with.

"Remember you quit your position to as a fry cook to have the same hours as me. Tsukasa's your boss!" She answered. The thought of Tsukasa being her boss scared her almost as much as being married to this blue haired fiend.

"Now we can move on to baby making!" Konata cheered.

"We can't have kids. Even you should know that's biologically impossible!" Kagami argued, but she should have known Konata had a plan. Konata _always _had a plan.

"Biologically impossible but not scientifically." She answered. "You see with science we can take my DNA and imprint with some stimcells and some other scientific-mumbojumbo and pretty much create the chromosomes and other stuff you need for baby making and place it in you. I don't know all of the details but with that you have a baby with me being the mom-dad-person-thing. SCIENCE."

_Oh god she's right! _She Kagami realized, she had read something about prewar scientists figuring that out around 2050. Religious people had pitched a fit about it since it was grossly against the bibles rules about god and creation.

"Now just sit back and relax and this will be over before you know it." Konata said with a benevolent grin.

**TSUKASA'S SURPRISE**

Tsukasa curiously watched her sister toss and turn in her sleep. It was around 10 a.m., Konata had gone out to see if she could check out the other houses for stuff too. Tsukasa had tried to sleep in but found she couldn't do it. Now she was content just watching her sister squirm and talk in her sleep.

"This is in no way consensual." Kagami muttered. This caught Tsukasa's interest. "I don't remember signing that…" She went on. Tsukasa giggled while she began thrashing around more violently.

"No! Don't touch me, get away…what are you doing with that turkey baster?" This dream of hers must have been interesting.

"Konata's going to be my baby's mom-dad-person-thing!" Kagami screamed in an ear piercing screech, and jumped up. Her and Tsukasa's eyes met.

"No, no, no, no Tsukasa don't look at me like that! It was a dream and it's…it's not what you think!" She stammered and blushed to the point where it looked like her face was going to hemorrhage.

"Don't worry onee-chan. My lips are sealed." Tsukasa said blankly in a stupefied daze. "That reminds me, I need to tell Kona-chan something. Let me go and find her." She got up and head off to find her, with the exact same expression glued on her face.

"No! Come back, you didn't hear enough of the conversation to make an accurate judgment!" Kagami cried in vain and chased after her.

**50/300 CAPS**

So ends another chapter of the girl's wasteland adventures. And with it comes my usual ramblings to clear up everything I left out and things for people not familiar with Fallout 3. I did cut out my really big stupid typo at the end of this, the world shall forget it ever existed.

Some of the technology does seem unrealistically convenient for them I know but that's just straight from the game. Just before the Great War fission energy was discovered and it pretty much runs indefinitely with almost no maintenance needed. Stimpaks are also pretty cheap since they make everyone nearly invincible unless they get a limb taken off or killed before one can be used. The drawback is that the average wastelander has no idea what they do. Joe Scavenger may find a first aid cache with stimpaks but he's going to skip out on the needles for the gauze and RadAway.

Konata's leaping and bounding through the explosions and gunshots is how that part goes for me no matter what I do. It starts off as me slowly disarming the mines until that bastard starts taking shots, cars start exploding and it turns into a mad dash for the playground with explosions.

Those enemies Tsukasa vaguely described are the three strongest enemies that appear in the game. That generally appear after you're level twenty if you have the expansion Broken Steel. They are Albino Radscorpion, Feral Ghoul Reavers, and Super Mutant Overlords. Each one is equally un-fun to fight and make me want to throw my controller. The latter two appear later in the story to cause havoc, mainly for Kagami.

Konata's explanation on using science for babies is a play off of "science baby" threads online where people draw doujins of Konami with kids and just call them science babies. That whole explanation was just me bullshiting like crazy.

There is no explanation on how some of the prewar food is preserved.

Three Dog makes references to the story and quests you do throughout the game. My favorite line is probably "I have a theory, Vault 101 is actually hell." After I roughed up quite a few people I deemed unworthy. And also, "Only you could start a forest fire in the wasteland, only you 101."

The really embarrassing typo has been conveniently removed.

My inspiration song for this chapter would have to be _Beginning Of The End _by _Nine Inch Nails_. What better song for foreshadowing the wild adventure this turns into?


	4. Adjustment

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 4- ADJUSTMENT**

The trip back to Megaton was pleasantly devoid of hungry irradiated monsters and prize seeking bandits. Konata skipped cheerfully, she had found more .32 rounds for the hunting rifle she had obtained yesterday which had brought her count up to 24. In a safe she managed to break into she also found an old FINFAL assault rifle, it only had one clip of 5.56 rounds so she would have to save it for a special occasion.

With two rifles and a pistol she was ready to take on whatever the wastes threw at her.

"_Fire to begin whipping dance of the dead, blackened is the end!_" She sang in a voice that horrible out of key and in the wrong pitch.

"I don't know what song that is but I get the feeling you're singing it wrong." Kagami noted, her eccentric blunette friend had been singing random verses from random songs for the better part of an hour now.

"Kagami, I'm taking this song and making it my own. I can sing it however I want, you're just angry because you don't have music in your soul." Konata retorted and went on with humming the instrumental part.

"Fine, whatever, just no more singing anymore, I'd like to keep my sanity thank you." The tsundere groaned and pulled at her twin tails. Konata muttered something and went silent.

After nearly ten minutes of silence Tsukasa spoke up, breaking what she thought was tension (which there was none of) "Anyone have anything to talk about?

"Can we discuss it in song?" Konata asked excitedly.

"No!" Kagami quickly shouted and put her hand over Konata's mouth.

"I have a question onee-chan." Tsukasa said. She sort of already knew most of what she was going to ask but she knew her sister would enjoy explaining things. That was her secret weapon for calming her sister down; just let her talk about something she knew about.

"What is it?" Kagami asked, wiping her now drool covered hand down the side of her armored jumpsuit.

"It's not really as much as question as it is a further explanation." Tsukasa told her. "I was wondering if you could tell up more about the Great War, I know a little but not a lot." Tsukasa was by no means stupid; she was just as bright as her sister. History and science just didn't interest her, she supposed it would be nice to know lots of things like Kagami and Miyuki but she knew that the things she was knowledgeable about were just as useful in their own way. Not as much so in the wastes, but her home economics skills weren't completely useless. Who else could perform first-aid like her, and cook up a mean radroach steak?

"I'm not sure exactly what you're asking." Kagami admitted, the war was an in depth subject which she herself didn't know all that much about. She knew about some of the major events and battles along with the technology but that was about it.

"Just kinda summarize it." Tsukasa answered her.

"Well okay if you insist…" Kagami began; she noticed that Konata was taking a little interest. "Pretty much fossil fuel started to run out and people began to out and people began panicking. The U.S. and the Chinese began bickering about who got what out of the last few reserves and that sparked a conflict which turned into a war. The same thing that happened back in the early 20th century happened again and-"

"What happened in the 20th century?" Konata interrupted.

"Oh, the first world war started because every country had a secret alliance with another country which snowballed into the entire world getting drawn in." Kagami answered her. "So basically that happened again and the whole world got involved. China invaded and took over Alaska and we drove them back in the Liberation of Anchorage."

That battle was an example of the awesome technology she wished she could get her hands on. Weapons like gauss and plasma rifles would probably come in handy in the wastes now. They even deployed a massive bipedal tank that was nearly invincible in battle.

"Afterwards the U.S. annexed Canada." She continued. "Then after some infighting the United Nations disbanded and it became a free-for-all."

"Is that when the world went kaboom?" Konata asked, she didn't think there was anything after the fall of the UN.

"Pretty much," Kagami shrugged, "What I think is stupid is that only a few years before the bombs, scientists discovered fission energy. But they were too greedy to make it available to anyone outside the U.S."

"Do you think if they shared it with other countries then we wouldn't have been nuked?" Tsukasa asked. _That was interesting thought, what if we shared our technology with Chinese? Would the future change at all? _Kagami thought then answered.

"Keep in mind no one knew who fired the first shot. So it could have been us that fired on them first."

**BACK TO MEGATON**

"My very own landmine, It's just what I always wanted!" Yui chirped over the gift that Konata presented her. She made no note of the condition any of them were in. Tsukasa's ripped up jumpsuit, and the blood stains around Kagami's midsection.

"You have to tell me everything you found out about those mines! Oh and were those ghost legends true?" She asked, and prepared to write anything important down.

"From first hand experience I can tell you that there was no ghost, just a sniper. He gave me his regards." Kagami told her through barred teeth. She was going to have a few words with Izumi when they found him, just a few words.

"See you can't go on believing old superstitions like that Hiiragi." Yui said hinting that Kagami had been the one to believe the ghosts stories. "Later in life you'll find out that there's a scientific explanation for everything."

"But I was the one who-" A flustered Kagami tried to say. "You know what, never mind." She gave up and walked away to go revaluate her life. Konata eagerly took her place in telling the story of their adventures in Minefield.

Kagami took this moment to take a walk around Megaton. The place was full of freaks it seemed; down by the bomb there was a man preaching that the warhead was actually some sort of god. Misao charged people for talking to her and whored out her fried Ayano as a prostitute, unsuccessfully though. Also at that saloon she kept a person so irradiated he looked like a zombie for what Kagami qualified as a slave. She wasn't binding the guy by chains but she held him to some debt that he had to pay off, but at the same time charged him for room and board. Then there was a man who paraded around town with his adopted daughter acting like he was the greatest father on the face of the scorched earth. Kagami assumed he was a closet pedophile. The jewel of the group had to be an old man that followed her around preaching about how the Enclave would swoop in and turn Megaton into a bustling metropolis, and how Colonel Nanako Kuroi would personally elect him as ambassador of their little town.

Kagami didn't know much about the Enclave, her first impression of them had been good but she soon found out the truth about them. Three Dog on the radio had said, "President Eden and his second in command Colonel Kuroi Nanako are actually two of the horsemen of the apocalypse." He explained that dragged of people for strange experiments, and how their power armored soldiers would occasionally just shoot people on sight for the hell of it. It seemed despite their advanced technology and prosperity they were just as bad as every one else who had a gun and unwarranted self-importance. The only note worthy thing they had ever done, according to Three Dog, was stepping in and putting a stop to a massive raider empire that had been amassing north of the Capital Wastelands.

It was times like these where she desperately missed Vault 101 where people and things weren't completely insane. Things made sense and everyone had a job to do and if they did it then the world spun nicely.

Kagami made her way to the Misao's place, ignoring the old man following her asking her if she would try and see if the Enclave would recruit her.

She took at a seat on a bar stool and Ayano instantly walked to her.

"Need anything? I got mirelurk cakes in the oven now and some iguana sishkabob cooling." She told Kagami and got ready write down her order. Kagami hated the food here; everything was irradiated and tasted awful. Mirelurk cakes sounded interesting, from what she had been told they were six-foot tall bipedal horseshoe crabs that were particularly dangerous.

"I just want something to drink." She muttered, secretly cringing at the fact she was portraying the mysterious stranger at the bar cliché. _According to Konata I'm already a stereotype tsundere, why not add another stereotype to the mix?_

"Sure what you want? We got beer, vodka, wine, scotch, and whiskey." Ayano listed.

"Got anything nonalcoholic?" Kagami asked. Getting wasted in a place like this seemed a recipe for disaster.

"Uh, sure, we got some Nuka-Cola for five caps." Ayano was surprised; no one came in here looking for something other than booze to drown their sorrows with.

"That sounds great." Kagami said and placed five bottle caps on the counter. Ayano placed a glass bottle of soda on the counter, took the caps and moved on to other customers. The soda tasted awful, 200 years old and completely flat. She wondered why people even bothered serving it, normal water irradiated you just as much and went down easier.

She checked her vital statistics on per Pip-Boy. She currently had 36 rads which she considered to be an acceptable amount, considering there was no real way to avoid radiation. All the water and food they came across was irradiated and so was nearly every life form left in existence, dogs and humans seemed to be the only things left unchanged.

Kagami noticed out of the corner of her eye someone was beckoning her. It was some guy in an eerily neat business suit with equally creepy hat and glasses. She got up to see what this was about.

"Need something?" She asked. There were dozens of things she could think of that he could want, not many of them were pleasant.

"Excuse my bluntness, but I've been watching you and the way you interact with the people of this pathetic little excuse for a settlement." He spoke in a voice that suggested that he was a business man. Kagami wasn't sure how well businessmen thrived in this environment. She remembered that Yui had talked briefly about her husband who was a wasteland trader. So business existed, just in a very interesting way.

"Cool?" She answered.

"Forgive my manner my dear." He apologized. "You can call me Mr. Burke. I'm going to get right down to the point; I've noticed you have very little love for the people around here."

"You could say that." She agreed, she hadn't been outright volatile with anyone; but at the same time she certainly hadn't been very friendly to anyone besides Lucas Simms.

"I have a business proposal for you, one I'm willing to pay 500 caps for." He told her. 500 caps was certainly enough to pay off Misao's gross price for information and then some.

"I get the feeling this isn't just you asking for me to go give someone something." She remarked. It was probably an assassination request or something along those lines. Kagami wasn't sure how she felt about that though. Back in Vault 101 she would have instantly declined, but after seeing the state of the world she was now a bit more flexible. Plus she had already ended another human life, nine raiders to be exact.

"You see that bomb in the center is still very much alive-"

"I see where this is going and the answer is no." Kagami interrupted and walked out, she didn't know why anyone would want to detonate this town but she wanted no part of it. It was true she had no love for the wastes or any of these freaks, but she wasn't about to murder the only settlement they had found so far.

She briskly walked away from that cesspool of a saloon and decided to see if she could help Yui in writing her book. Knowing her, the entire thing would be one massive run on sentence with no punctuation.

Before she could make it back, however, she spotted a lone figure making there was towards the gate. "Tsukasa?" She quickly made her way to catch up with her sister.

"Onee-chan!" Tsukasa greeted her with a smiled that looked just a little forced. "Yui-san sent me out to test out her new invention for the second chapter." This new invention of hers happened to looked suspiciously like a leek, a prewar vegetable.

"What could you possibly test with that?" Kagami said, eying the leek suspiciously.

"Yui-san grew it with a special formula that's supposed to ward off mole-rats. I just gotta tap them on the head once with it." She explained.

"Okay well be careful." Kagami didn't like the idea of her sister wandering out there alone searching for potentially dangerous creatures with something that may not even work. She then got an idea on how to keep her sister just a little safer.

"But…I can't shoot a weapon." Tsukasa protested when her sister handed her the laser pistol she had found, along with an extra energy cell battery.

"Just, take it in case Yui's…thing, doesn't work." Kagami insisted and let her sister go on her way.

**TSUKASA, FRIEND OF THE ANIMALS**

Tsukasa viewed their sojourn with mixed emotions. She did, to some extent, agree with Konata's philosophy of having fun while she was here. The freedom that came with it was refreshing. Then there was the whole "you could die at anytime" aspect which ruined the entire fun atmosphere.

Getting shot had hurt; it had hurt more than anything had ever hurt before. She couldn't imagine how her sister felt considering she had been shot about six or seven times. That brought on the whole subject of her sister, out here they were equals to some extent. While Kagami could defend them and knew a bit around the world around them, they depended on Tsukasa for her cooking, first-aid, and any other skills that would no doubt surface along the way.

In the vault things were quite a bit different. Since Kagami was the epitome of success, Tsukasa's accomplishments were over looked nearly nine times out of ten. _Oh look Kagami got straight A's and is just ever so smart and talented _They would say within ear shot of Tsukasa, but they would just flat out ignore that all the great food they ate all the cleaning in their home which was all done by her.

Maybe she wasn't as ambitious as her sister but Tsukasa was by no means stupid. If anything she was just bored, Konata vented her boredom through games and old prewar stuff like that but that just bored Tsukasa even more. She remembered one time while she was having a check up, Sojiro Izumi had remarked that she had something he had aptly named "Vault Syndrome".

_"Vault Syndrome isn't a real thing of course." He had told her after reading her confused look. "It's pretty much when you accept that vault life will never be exciting and just go with it." _Tsukasa thought maybe Kagami had that too, but after seeing how ambitious she was Tsukasa doubted it.

Strangely she didn't miss it as much as she thought she would. If she had to go back at this very instant she would be saddened because she secretly liked exploring and seeing all the new things here. Of course Tsukasa still missed her mother and father and even Matsuri and Inori despite their constant teasing and belittling of their younger sisters. Even Kagami wasn't safe from them.

Time flew by as she recounted all her thoughts, Yui had recommended she looked in a place called The Tepid Sewers, but she hadn't bothered to tell her where that was. Luckily mole rats were plentiful and she could find some just by walking down the Potomac River. She decided to follow it into the D.C. ruins.

Not even five minutes later she found a fat little mutated rodent scurrying along.

"Hey, Mr. Mole Rat!" She cried to get its attention. It briefly looked up at her then continued going on its merry way. Seeing that ignored her, Tsukasa knew she would have to get its attention some other way.

She hefted up a rock the size of her fist and lobbed it at the little guy. Her accuracy was surprisingly canny and she managed to hit it in the side of the head. The mutated mole monster looked her straight in the eyes. Tsukasa could feel the anger radiating (no pun intended) off of it as it began its death charge.

"I'm sorry Mr. Mole Rat, it was an accident!" Quick to react, Tsukasa bobbed it on the head once with Yui's-Patented-Mole-Rat-Repellent-Leek. To her surprise it stopped mid-lunge at her.

"It worked!" She cheered. Tsukasa curiously noticed that its eyes and ears were emitting some sort of steam.

Tsukasa let out a surprised squeak when mole-rat blood splattered her face and clothes with bits of bones and brains sticking to her in all sorts of sundry places.

"One down, nine to go…" She muttered and began marching off to find other mole-rats for the experiment. "…I'm going to need a shower after this, it's a good thing I brought my balsamic vinegar."

**SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS**

"So Yui-san was telling me how she found a _super stimpak _from a trader who came from the west coast." Konata said randomly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Kagami asked, and went back to attempting to sew the wholes in her armored jumpsuit.

"Well, she wants us to try and test out a replica one she made. She said it's at least four times as potent as a normal one." She explained.

Kagami thought for a moment and then spoke up. "How do we test something like that anyways? It's not like were suffering from any injuries now." She didn't like the look Konata gave her.

**BLEED FOR SCIENCE**

"Konata, this is stupid even for you. There's no way we're going to fight to the near-death just for some stupid book and some stupid caps." Kagami said, crossing her arms and scowling. Konata had dragged her to a rocky outcropping behind Megaton and presented her idea.

"Kagami this is for science! You're a scientist so you should appreciate this. Now do you want the lead pipe or the baseball bat?" Konata asked and presented her with a rusty lead pipe and splintery baseball bat.

"For the last time I'm an engineer not a scientist, and I choose neither; this whole thing is dumb." Kagami insisted and began walking back. She didn't even make it five feet before raw pain exploded in her knee. She collapsed over and saw Konata standing over her with the pipe. It was hard to believe that Konata had just smashed her knee in with a lead pipe.

"Konata what are you doing!" She screamed and tried to crawl away.

"I expected resistance so I decided to just go ahead and rough you up a bit." Konata shrugged and kicked her a few times.

"What would possibly make you think this was a good idea?" Kagami shouted and tried to deflect Konata's onslaught of blows. "Plenty of wounded scavengers come by needing medical attention!"

Konata stopped when she heard that. "You have a point, but why stop now, I mean we're friends right?" She proceeded to pull a spherical object out of her messenger bag.

"Is that a grenade!?" Kagami shouted, _has Konata completely lost her mind? That would kill both of us!_

"It's just a pulse grenade." Konata told her and began walking backwards. "Don't worry it'll just paralyze you enough for me to throw you down those rocks, it'll hurt but it won't actually put you in any mortal danger."

"Where did you even get that!?" Kagami asked and tried desperately to scramble to her feet. The pipe had bruised her knee badly and it every time she stood back up she would just fall back down.

"Oh, Yui gave it to me along with two frag grenades for doing the whole thing in Minefield." Konata answered. Before Kagami could wonder why she didn't get a reward, even though she got shot trying to do this, a blinding light enveloped her and she felt a quick shock before passing out.

**SCIENCE!**

Kagami woke sometime later in the medical cot Yui had in her makeshift laboratory.

"You're awake!" Yui cried out almost as soon as she opened her eyes. _Was she watching me? _Kagami thought lazily, and sat up. Surprisingly she wasn't wracked with any sort of pain at all.

"The good news is the super stimpak was a complete success!" Yui informed her. "The bad news is I ran out of the stuff to make it so in the end the entire test was a waste." Yu couldn't tell for sure but it sounded like Kagami was screaming into the cot's pillow.

After several minutes of awkward silence, Kagami decided to break it. "So where are the other two now?"

"Tsukasa's not back yet and Konata went out to place a secret camera in the layer of some mirelurks." Yui told her and went back to fiddling around with some gun. As much as she wanted to beat Konata's face in until that goofy grin was gone for awhile, Kagami couldn't help but worry about her facing off against massive mutated crab-demons alone.

"Strange," Yui muttered to herself. "It's been about six hours, Tsukasa should be back now."

**WELCOME TO POINT LOOKOUT!**

Meanwhile…

"You there, would you like to take a trip to a place of wonders!" A man standing on the dock of a riverboat called out.

"No, no thank you I was just heading home." Tsukasa answered and kept walking.

"Are you sure you don't want to go treasure hunting in Point Lookout instead?" He cried out again. In any other circumstance Tsukasa would have regarded him as being funny with his hat and mustache.

"N-no I'm not a treasure hunter." Tsukasa replied and quickly picked up her pace. As she walked by he grabbed her by the edge of Kagami's lab coat that she was wearing and pulled her back.

"Nonsense anyone can be a treasure hunter!" He said cheerfully and dragged her into this riverboat.

**YUI'S NOT-SO-SECRET SECRET**

"So what's your story?" Kagami asked, just making conversation.

"Me?" Yui stuttered like there was someone else in the room. "Well, I was born in the New California Republic, then about twenty-five years ago my parents and my aunt moved to a town called Arefu that's a bit north of here. They still live there with my little sister." She told her. "We used to live with my aunt too but she got married and went to work on some project at the old Jefferson Memorial, but she died only a few days after giving birth."

"Where's your cousin now?" Kagami asked, she supposed she was probably living in one of the neighboring settlements.

"I dunno, her dad took her to live in a vault where it was safe, in fact her dad stopped by a little while before you three did." Kagami stared at her in awe.

"What was his name exactly?" She jumped up and asked.

"Sojiro Izumi, why?" Yui asked and scratched her head.

"You know what Konata's last name is right?" Kagami led on.

"Izumi, why?" Yui answered.

"You know why we're helping you right?' Kagami asked her again.

"To pay Misao so you can find her dad." Yui paused. "Ohhh, I get what you're saying."

Kagami couldn't believe she had lost blood for this cause.

**NEXT TIME, KONATA MEETS HER COUSIN**

I kept this one a little shorter and I'll be honest I didn't have much fun writing it, next chapter will definitely be better. Now we move on to clarifications.

The repellent leek in the game is just a normal repellent stick, but I liked it more as a leek.

Tsukasa appears to have the Animal Friend due to the fact that mole rat did not immediately attack her. And no she's not going to be dragged off to be raped or anything. Just to the expansion area Point Lookout.

Super Stimpaks were items in Fallout 1 and 2 that healed much more than a regular stimpak.

Inspiration song for chapter 4- _Grind _by _Alice In Chains, _another song by that band. Luckily grunge bands keep their lyrics vague enough that I can meld them into metaphors that can somehow relate to my story(ies).


	5. Thoughts and Peril

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 5- THOUGHTS AND PERIL**

_I hope Kagami isn't to mad at me, I know I went overboard with that whole injury experiment but Yui got some really good results. If she gets the materials she could start mass producing those super stimpaks and it could really help a lot of people. Well I hope at least she likes the gift I from her from that Anchorage Memorial, that place was pretty fun. A good chance to practice my ninja skills too._

_We've been out here for a week in a half and still haven't moved onto finding my dad, I hope he's alright. Then there's Tsukasa who's been gone for nearly a week. Kagami programmed her Pip-Boy a few years ago to monitor her sisters vital signs after that one incident with the vinegar…I don't want to think about that. I still think it's funny how it says she's in Maryland, it must be broken there's no way Tsukasa could be there._

_I wonder how Miyuki is doing; her mom probably has a lot on her hands because of us running off. Ah, well I know the two of them will handle themselves. For some reason I'm actually glad she's not with us here, I miss her and everything but it's dangerous enough out here as it is without her moe endangering us all. I know it's mean to say this, but how Tsukasa is doing so well is beyond me; she must have a luck factor of ten or something._

**KAGAMI**

_Well I've made my self comfortable here as much as I can. Yui and I haven't told Konata that they're related yet, Yui doesn't know where her dad went so Misao is still our only source of information. We decided to wait and tell her once we get all the info from Misao so that day will be extremely special for her, little things like that are always nice. For some reason I don't have any grudge against that little blue haired fiend for breaking my left knee and two of my ribs, I barely remember it and there's not even a scratch on me from the whole ordeal. Pain to me is abstract, it's there but I barely notice it when I get hurt. Like some part of my brain knows I don't have time to worry about it, I can't tell if it's a curse or not._

_Moving on to things that have more bases on reality… It's strange Tsukasa has been gone for so long, my Pip-Boy has a direct link to hers and it says she's perfectly healthy…just in Maryland though. I think it's a glitch or something, when we find her I'll make sure to fix that._

_I can't help but wonder how Mom and our other sisters are taking this. I know Inori and Matsuri are probably face-palming right now and Mom is more than likely worried sick while Dad tries desperately to calm her. Ha, she's probably going on about her poor baby Tsukasa lost, tired, and hungry. Then Dad will mention that me and Konata are with her and she'll probably say something like we died defending her from some hungry Deathclaw or something, she's always been a pessimist after the whole vinegar incident. Come to think of it I think I still have scars…you know where…from that whole thing. Who knew you could make napalm that way?_

**TSUKASA**

_Oh boy, Sis and Konata are probably worried sick about me. It's worse that the ferryman, Tobar, who brought me here is charging 628 caps for a ride back but now that one irradiated guy wants me to help him kill his rival, and on top of that I still have to find that one woman's daughter. Why did they all ask me to help them?_

_Oh yeah they call those irradiated guys ghouls because they look like zombies. I felt bad for them until those ones in the swamp attacked me, now I'm not so sure exactly how I feel about them. 628 is a really random number._

_I remember what Kagami said about being afraid that one time when the power went out and she dragged me down to the reactor level with all the radroaches to help fix it._

_"Tsukasa look at it this way, all fear does is stop you from doing what needs to be done. It's natural to get afraid of things we can't see or understand, but if we let if control us we'll just let other people and ourselves down when it's a time of need."_

_Or did I read that in a book? Whatever, those still are inspiring words. Because right now everything in Point Lookout is scary. There are scary zombies running around, scary mutated rednecks, scary tribal people with guns, and not to mention that whole thing they made me do to join them so I could find that girl's daughter. _

_I still want to know what that scar on the back of my head is all about. And man did I have some freaky dreams the other night…_

_I wonder if there's any balsamic vinegar still around? That horrible accident that nearly killed four of us back home actually turned out to be a decent weapon once I got a hold of some laundry detergent and turpentine. What was I doing with those ingredients in the first place when I figured that out anyways?_

**WASTELAND CHRISTMAS**

"Kagamin, I have a present for you!" Konata shouted in Kagami's ear, startling her out of the nap she was taking.

"Wha-? A present?" She sputtered and stood up while trying to rub sleep out of her eyes.

Konata shoved something heavy and metal into her hands and smiled her cat like grin. It looked like a giant metal clenched fist.

"What exactly is this?" Kagami asked and suspiciously examined it.

"At first I wasn't sure either." Konata told her. "I found it in the Anchorage Memorial with all the mirelurks and decided to take it back with me. I asked this guy at Misao's named Jericho, and he said it was a power fist."

"A power fist, huh?" Kagami repeated, she had briefly heard of these. Soldiers with T-51b power-armor would use these occasionally. She found the part where her own fist fit in. Inside she felt something felt like the hand brake of a bicycle. She clenched it and the knuckle part of the Power Fist shot forward a good six inches. "Interesting."

"So Kagami are you going to test it out?" Konata asked, she was practically bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Test it out on what?" She replied. Konata knew Kagami didn't like showing lots of emotion but she was definitely excited about this.

"Don't worry, we have this!" Konata told and grabbed a two foot wooden plank from the corner of Yui's store. She held it up like someone would in a Karate display. "Go ahead and give it your all."

"If you say so." Kagami said and nervously prepared to test it out. Despite the Power Fist weighing a solid fifteen pounds she managed to pull of a quick jab while clenching down on the switch inside.

The plank nearly exploded on impact, sending Konata flying several feet into the wall behind her.

"Konata are you all right!?" Kagami yelled and ran to her friend's aid.

"Kagami…" Konata replied softly. "That…was…_awesome!"_ she cheered. "Let's go find other things to smash!"

It was at that moment Yui burst through the door holding an unloaded assault rifle backwards. "Is everything all right? Did one of my experiments get loose!?"

Konata and Kagami explained that they were just having fun. They, however, did not want to know what experiments she was talking about.

**450/300 BOTTLE CAPS**

"So we're now at 450 bottle caps." Kagami said after counting their impressive pile. After all their work on this book they had acquired that, ammo, grenades, and other miscellaneous nonsense as rewards. She and Konata were exhausted after spending the last several hours finding stuff to smash with the new power fist.

"Then we can pay off Misao and finally find my dad!" Konata squeaked in a voice that made Yui and Kagami cringe.

"Promise me when you're done finding him you'll come back and finish the book with me?" Yui asked with her best moeblob puppy eyes.

"Yeah whatever." Kagami agreed and was rewarded with a very intimate hug from her.

**KONATA'S MUSICAL SOUL**

"I am king of sea, but I'm not Aquaman, death will rise from the tides, _I am Mirelurk!_" Konata sang in an extremely excited voice as she skipped alongside Kagami.

"It's a five minute walk and you still insist on singing." Kagami muttered and secretly noted that it would be a good idea to purchase a flashbang grenade to deafen herself next time Konata decided to sing. That was one good thing about the wastes, there were destructive toys lying around everyone where.

"How come you never complained about my singing when we were at home?" Konata asked.

"Because it wasn't as ridiculous as it is out here." Kagami replied.

"I will admit I miss playing those music games on my console with you Tsukasa, to bad you never wanted to play with us." Konata said feeling a little nostalgic. As much as she thought vault life was as boring as it got she did miss some aspects.

"That's because they weren't any fun." Kagami retorted.

"You're just mad because you failed on easy level on every instrument." Konata giggled.

"Oh and like you were any better?" Kagami snapped back, she forgot that Konata and Tsukasa were a lot better.

"We were my dear Tsundere, remember that I could sing on expert level and play guitar on hard level." She bragged. "And remember how Tsukasa could play the drums on expert level? She could beat all the hardest songs in the game without failing and relying on me to save her!" Kagami remember that she hated the drums and considered it a gift from god when they finally broke after Tsukasa threw a massive temper tantrum when she received a rank lower than what she wanted to get on some nine minute long Dream Theater song.

"Whatever." She replied and they stayed silent. Konata giggled knowing she had won this argument.

**ALL FOR ONE…**

"Money!" Misao squealed and hugged the bag of caps against her face.

"So now you'll tell us where my dad is, _right_?" Konata said in a dead serious tone, even she was getting sick of jumping through hoops to get what she wanted.

"Oh yeah he ran off to Galaxy News Radio to talk to that Free Hog…" Misao realized she had gotten his name wrong. "Err, I mean Sea Fog, no that's not it either… Pea Bog? No, that's still not it. Gordon Freeman?

"Three Dog?" Kagami suggested.

"Yeah that guy!" Misao laughed.

Out of the corner of their eyes the three of them saw an entirely different situation unfold.

"_Stop trying to convince people to blow up the town already!_" Ayano screamed at Mr. Burke who was apparently up to his old shenanigans. He lunged at her and the three girls gasped in horror.

Ayano side-stepped behind him and smashed the palm of her hand into the back of his neck causing him to collapse like a rock. Jericho and another patron proceeded to drag his body out. It looked like he was still alive though.

"What was that?" Kagami asked Misao, she had never seen _that _move before.

"That's some crazy martial arts move that she learned when she was in the Brotherhood of Steel." Misao answered, "She quit after they went all soft of something then we became best friends." She smiled, showing her enlarged fang openly to Kagami, who thought it was strange but kind of cute.

"Interesting." Kagami shrugged, maybe Ayano could teach her that sometime. "Well, from what I know from the radio GNR studios is in the dead center of the DC ruins." She hit several buttons on her Pip-Boy. "There I found the location and traced a route to get there on it."

Konata stared at her in wonder. "You know that thing way too well."

"I get just as bored as you Konata." Kagami reminded her.

**THE CITY**

They had left out after a couple hours of preparing. With them the brought the power fist, hunting rifle, and assault rifle. For the assault rifle they found two more clips. Konata gave Kagami the hunting rifle since Tsukasa had borrowed her favorite weapon.

"So what will Tsukasa do when she finds that we're gone?" Konata asked, she knew Kagami would be grateful just to hear her stop singing the entire _Ride the Lightning _album by _Metallica. _

"I left her a note and I'll check her location every day to see when she gets back." Kagami explained, as always she thought everything out. "Oh yeah and if you try and sing another instrumental I'm going to take this power fist to your face."

"Waah, hurtful words Kagamin, I thought you'd like my version of _Caprice Di Diablo _!" Konata fake cried. "Anyways what bands do you like?" She asked instantly regaining her cheerful composition.

"Me? I don't know I don't really care that much about music." Kagami shrugged, there were songs she like but no bands really clicked with her enough to sit down and listen to. The only song she could think of then was _Working Man _by _Rush _since she dedicated that song to her vault life.

"You probably like Tool; Tool seems like a good band for a tsundere." Konata decided.

"Don't call me that." Kagami snapped. "And besides I don't really like them that much, all their songs are like seven minutes long and really boring."

Konata smirked with her cat like grin. "So you _do _know about them."

"You're confusing admiration with knowledge again." Kagami replied, thinking about all the arguments that had started because of that.

Their stroll through the outskirts of the ruins was abruptly ended when they realized that nearly every road into D.C. was blocked by massive piles of rubble. The city seemed to be like a solid wall of crumpled, hollowed, burnt shells of buildings with massive piles of debris and rubble blocking the roads.

"Now what?" Konata asked, she had begun realizing that there was no way they could climb over all of that.

"I asked Jericho about the ruins before we left." Kagami answered. Konata was getting a little exhausted of Kagami planning ahead for everything; it was making her look bad. "They subways are still intact and we can use them to get around."

It didn't take long to find their way to a metro station; it was infested with mole rats and radroaches which were quickly dispatched. Kagami decided it was easier to use the hunting rifle than the power fist against the mole rats. Although she had never fired a gun that used material rounds, it wasn't that difficult. There was surprisingly less kickback than what she expected, and aiming down the sights against the mole rats bloated heads was easier then she thought it would be. The power fist had caused the rats head to pretty much implode in a shower of gore which managed to jam the mechanism that extended the fist.

Soon they found out that most of the tunnels had collapsed causing them to have to go through the dark service ways.

"I heard that the irradiation turned some people into zombies who decided to live down here away from the sunlight." Konata said as they worked there way down narrow corridors and catwalks over what seemed to be bottomless pits.

"That ridiculous this isn't Night of the Living…" Before she could finish her sentence that rusty catwalk they were walking on gave away.

"_Deeaaddd!_" She screamed and managed to grab the edge before falling to into who knew where. The problem was Konata was on the other side and couldn't reach her.

Down below the rust catwalk splashed loudly into a pool of tepid water and from the little light that her Pip-Boy gave off she could see several human like figures hissing and growling up at her.

"Kagami, hang on I'll find away to get you out of this!" Konata screamed and desperately looked around for something to help her friend with. She was hanging onto to a bar of metal that had originally been used to support the catwalk and was now hanging down a 90 degree angle.

"Damn it this is worse than Half Life!" Konata yelped and continued to search around for some sort of long pole to help her with, she was full six feet across the gap and nothing seemed to be long enough to aid her.

With quick thinking, Kagami used her free hand to grab at a series of pipes running up the wall next to her, now she had both her hands holding her up. From there she was able to get a foot on the metal holding the pipes running vertically up the wall, and then she managed to get her other foot and hand on there. Hugging against the wall like that was a tight fit but she somehow managed.

"Now what?" She called out to Konata, it was extremely grueling holding on to the walls like his but it beat dangling over the edge by a rusty piece of scaffolding. It felt like her fingers were splitting at the knuckle, but it wasn't as bad as the rusty broken beam cutting into her palms.

"Shimmy over a bit and jump to this side!" Konata told her. Kagami craned her neck and saw that she would have to shimmy over about four feet and then make a three foot jump to make it to Konata's side.

Kagami obeyed and began shimmying inch by inch across the metal beam holding the piping to the wall. After making it to the end of the pipes length she took as much as rest as she could. Her arms were on fire and her whole body was shaking from exhaustion.

"I'm going to try to jump over now!" She announced and painstakingly managed to turn herself around. There wasn't much leverage to jump, from this angle she was pretty much just holding on with her hands with her feet pressed against the wall. It wasn't the most comfortable position she'd ever been in.

It was now or never, she realized, and braced for the jump. Kagami crunched her knees up as much as she could and made a jump that vaguely resembled an out of place swan dive.

Her fingers barely touched the mesh of the catwalk and for a split second her stomach lurched as she went into a free fall.

_I didn't make it_

Emphasis was placed on split second when Konata grabbed her forearm and stopped her descent.

"Gotcha!" She cheered, and managed to get both hands on her. Kagami watched in horror as Konata started sliding off the edge from her weight.

"You're really heavy!" She huffed and tried to pull Kagami up. As much as she tried, she couldn't make any sort of progress and she was slowly being pulled down with her. Kagami, who was completely exhausted from all of this, couldn't do much but watch.

"Just let me go I'm going to drag us both down!" Kagami cried, the words barely came out legible through her tear soaked, choking sob.

"Not…letting…go!" Konata muttered in a strained grunt.

"Just go and find your dad, I'm not going to kill us both!" Kagami cried again "Just tell Tsukasa I'm sorry for getting her into this, and I'm sorry for always yelling at you, I even secretly enjoyed your singing!" She knew the difference from being smart and being a hero. Heroes die needlessly while smart people sacrifice themselves in a situation where there is no other alternative. Konata was just flat out too weak to pull her up, Kagami didn't want her becoming a "hero".

"I'm not letting go!" Konata screamed, and tried desperately to pull her up. Her words rang in her ear; it was in the tone of someone who had given up almost completely. Everything past her waist up was now dangling off and it wouldn't be much longer before she slid off entirely. Konata would rather die with her friend here than have to live with the guilt of know Kagami died trying to help her in her journey.

Konata knew she wasn't going to last much longer and quickly switched one hand from Kagami's forearm to the metal railing, Kagami lurched and the strain on her right hand became almost unbearable for a moment, but for now she was safe from falling.

Kagami could feel Konata's grip faltering and could almost see the strain in her face behind the blue hair that was cascading over it and on to her.

_Hair, that's it!_

Kagami used her free hand to grab a handful of Konata's hair. Konata let out a series of "ow's" and lurched forward, not enough to send her falling though.

From there Kagami used her other hand to grab hold of the back of Konata's 101 jumpsuit, and then her belt before she finally somersaulted over onto the metal catwalk.

They both sat there soaked in sweat, breathing heavily. Both of them were struggling to find words.

"You...hung in there for so long." Kagami huffed, "Why?"

Konata smiled and placed a hand on her friends shoulder. "Because without you I wouldn't have anyone to tease." She answered and tugged her Kagami's twin tails. "…and I…" She paused choosing her next words carefully. "…really care about you."

"Thanks, I really owe you one." Kagami said and hugged her friend tightly. She could feel herself blushing lightly but couldn't really understand why.

As Konata sat there embracing her friend, she let her mind wander.

_I hope she never tells me to just let go ever again. I'll fight to death by her side and if she goes, I go. In my eyes that's what being a friend is about; I would do the same thing for Miyuki and Tsukasa if I ever had to. I just hope it never happens again, this was a real eye opener for me. Up to here I was cruising around the wastes like nothing bad could happen to us, even if Tsukasa got beat with a stick by a mutant, we would always have stimpaks. But now I know that death isn't something I can just cheat with technology. People actually die out here and I'm powerless to stop with it. If Kagami had actually fallen… I don' know what I would do, I don't think I'd be able to go on. I've been thinking about this a lot, and other dangerous situations have made me thing about this just as much. Every time she's in trouble I get so scared but I never show it, I don't think she knows how much I care. I don't know what the right term for how I feel about her is, if someone said "Oh hey Konata that them there is love you're feeling." Then I guess I would be in love with her. It doesn't change anything the way I see it. _

**HALF WAY TO GNR**

Once again I decided to clear out a lot of my pointless authors notes here. Most of them were once again outdated news and references that really didn't need to pointed out.

If I had to choose a song for this chapter it would be _Fear Of The Dark _by _Iron Maiden_ since I could totally imagine that playing in the background of that catwalk scene.


	6. Battlefield DC

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 6- BATTLEFIELD DC**

At the very edge of the Capital Wasteland…

Colonel Nanako Kuroi awoke instantly when she heard her radio crackling next to her head on the desk she had fallen asleep on. Reluctantly, she grabbed it and tapped the talk button.

"Say again, over." She muttered and tried desperately to keep her eyes open. Kuroi glanced over at the alarm clock which had long since stopped using it's alarm function and saw it was two in the afternoon. If she wasn't the highest ranking Enclave officer here at Raven Rock she would probably be demoted for her lack of work ethics.

"Colonel Kuroi, you have a visitor." A male voice from her radio replied

"Send them in." She replied and threw her trench coat over herself. Technically she was supposed to wear it over her normal officer's outfit but wearing three layers of clothes was grueling even in the air conditioned workplace. The coat ended at her shins and was a light tan color with various medals and decorations over her left breast. She couldn't remember where she had earned half of them.

After several minutes of waiting eventually there was a knock on her door. Kuroi stumbled over to the intercom that let her communicate to whoever wanted to see her.

"Make it quick, I'm busy right now." She lied through the intercom. Not quite a lie since she wanted to keep playing Mass Effect like she had the night before, but it wasn't what the Enclave called "busy".

"Colonel Kuroi, this is General Estoc. I'm here to discuss Raven Rock's budget. Nanako's heart skipped a few beats and quickly used mechanism next to the intercom to open the door halfway. She peered through and saw a man with graying hair wearing a coat not unlike her own, just with a lot more medals and ribbons.

"Estoc, Sir!" She managed a sloppy salute, "Just give me a minute." She shut the door and threw her long coat off. She could get away with wearing only her underwear under it around the rest of the troops, but around a superior officer... A _general _discussing finances for that matter, well they cared about her indecency. She quickly put on the regular black and gray officer uniform and threw the coat over; no way in hell was she going to wear the stupid hat with it too.

When the door opened, General Estoc was greeted the current highest ranking officer here since General Maynard went crazy killed himself along with a dozen others. His first impression wasn't great to say the least. Kuroi's outfit was out of order in at least a dozen places, not to mention her golden-blonde hair was several _feet _over regulation length and thrown into a haphazard pony-tail.

**DISCUSSION**

"Waste of resources, what would give you that idea?" Kuroi answered faking a laugh. They had gone down to the messrooom to discuss this over coffee. He was direct in saying that he believed the entire Enclave presence here to be a waste of time, resources, and effort.

"The initial reports that were sent to us show no indication that we you have made any sort of progress here." He told her grimly. The Enclave's goal was to "Establish a predominant spot in the local community and further scientific endeavors. Combined, the two would liberate America." So far they had managed to make all the local settlements hate and fear them, and their scientific pursuits had lead to the death of, so far- forty scientists. This had happened since Kuroi had taken charge.

"Have you read our scientific reports?" Kuroi asked with a hint of arrogance. She was confident that their Deathclaw research was fairly boast worthy.

"I have not personally, summarize it for me." He replied and crossed his arms.

"Oh, well that's easy." She mock laughed again. "Well there are our long and devoted findings on Deathclaw ecology." Kuroi left out the fact that twelve scientists had died getting those cameras into their lair.

"We also have found ways to control their nervous system to tame them for our bidding." Estoc raised an eyebrow in surprise. She knew it was best to leave out that it only worked 30% of the time and list of casualties from the failures. At this point they were just sitting in holding cells at Adams Airforce Base indefinitely.

"Not to mention we found a working Tesla Coil." She finished proudly. She also left out that the large Deathclaw population in that area was holding their advances back.

Estoc read over a few papers that had a series of lists containing casualties and resource costs. They were staggeringly high. Kuroi knew this but wasn't about to give up, she had a sweet deal here and could get away with nearly anything but flashing her colonel insignia. There was no way she would be transferred and be forced to answer to other people. She quickly scanned over a list of projects they had taken up over the years for one that was extremely worthy. One in particular caught her eye.

"Wait I forgot about this one!" She nearly shouted. "We're in the middle of securing a station from wasteland scientists that would quite possibly create indefinite clean water cheap and efficiently." The paper listed that the endeavor was labeled "postponed until further notice" nearly twenty years ago. It was started by two wastelanders named Sojiro and Kanata Izumi, along with a few other side players and the detestable Brotherhood of Steel. It could be started up again, Kuroi reasoned.

"Interesting." Estoc noted with genuine surprise. "If you could actually get that to work… imagine the possibilities."

"Well I'm going to need a little support for this." Kuroi said with a devilish smile. She later drew up a list of supplies they would need for this to work.

At least a dozen more Vetribird Helicopters, a score of plasma and laser rifles, some more power-armor suits and a copy of Mass Effect 2.

**MUCH FURTHER NORTH, OTHER EVENTS UNFOLDED**

Tsukasa wiped sweat off her brow and got ready for her trip back to the Capital Wastes, she could hardly believe she had been stuck in Point Lookout for nearly two weeks.

"Wait!" A shrill female voice called her. Tsukasa turned around and saw a woman in a leather duster; she was walking towards her limping. She had been stabbed several times and her duster was clinging to her in bloody tatters.

"Hold on, let me try and help you!" Tsukasa cried and ran to this mysterious woman's aid.

"No, don't worry about me. This is The Lord's will." The stranger said solemnly. "Just answer me this." Tsukasa nodded in agreement. "Did you do as a man named Blackhall asked?"

Tsukasa thought for a moment. She had spent the last week and a half running around getting things there done. Her memory was getting a bit fuzzy. Then the name Blackhall flashed in her memory. She had met him in a mansion by the shore, he sent her to go get a book for him from the swampfolk, and she tracked it down to an extensive cave. They didn't take kindly to her trying to steal this book (some strange Necronomicon) and attempted to sacrifice her to whatever god they worshipped. Some quick thinking and a bit of balsamic vinegar got her out of that bind. Plus, she managed to grab their ceremonial sacrificial sword which was razor sharp and could prove to be an effective weapon. After all that Tsukasa had forgotten to return the book to him.

"Yeah, he made me get this book for him." She answered and pulled the leather bound tome out of her messenger bag.

The mystery woman coughed up a sizable amount of blood and spoke. "The mad prophet Abdul Alhazred spoke these words… _That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die._" Tsukasa gave her a puzzled look. "That book must be destroyed, if the hybrid children obtain we will see their father roaming free."

"Okay, I'll burn it next chance I get." Tsukasa shrugged. It didn't seem like that big of a deal, and she believed quite possibly that this woman was exaggerating a tad much.

"No!" The woman shouted. "It can only be destroyed at a shrine in The Capital Wasteland. Find it under the Dunwich Building, go now child…" With those last words the mysterious stranger passed on.

Tsukasa kneeled next to her in shock, so far that had been the strangest thing to happen so far. It was hard to tell what out of her cryptic puzzles was true or not. However, just to humor her Tsukasa decided that if she ever came across this Dunwich building she would oblige and destroy it there.

**BACK IN THE CAPITAL WASTELANDS**

How her dad made it through this place alone was a mystery. Konata and her tsundere companion had gotten lost a whole seven times in these tunnels. Kagami had been silent since their previous peril with the faulty scaffolding, which combined with the dark atmosphere, gave a strong sense of foreboding.

"Game over!" A gruff almost inhuman voice cried out and was followed by the shot of a hunting rifle.

The two girls immediately took cover behind various pieces of fallen concrete debris. Their attacker was almost human, nearly eight feet tall with ruddy, hairless, greenish yellow skin; they were facing a Super Mutant.

Kagami was quick to react and managed to pull of a lucky shot, and the .32 round pierced right through its thick skull. The monster, however, seemed completely oblivious to its head wound and fired another shot with even worse accuracy.

Konata fired off several three round bursts against the mutant finally dropping it.

"It took a bullet to the head." Kagami remarked and retrieved the ammo from its hunting rifle.

"You think there's more of 'em?" Konata asked and scanned the darkness for any signs of reinforcements.

"I dunno, but I see an exit I think." Kagami replied and gestured to some stairs leading to a chain link fence, which daylight was illuminating down from.

Ecstatic to be out of there, Konata sprinted towards the exit.

"Konata, don't run you'll trip." Kagami cried and went after her.

Konata quickly opened the chain link gate and headed up the stairs. Much to her surprise, a Super Mutant flew backwards down the stairs at her. She quickly pressed herself against the wall to avoid the monster. Even more to her surprise, the creature was burning quickly, before it hit the ground it was completely dissolved to ash.

"Kagami…" She muttered looking at the pile of ashes, not even bone was left. "What kind of thing does that to people, or monsters in this case?"

Kagami stared at the ashes for a moment then spoke up, "I don't know all the details but I think that was the work of a laser weapon."

"Your laser pistol never did that." Konata pointed out, she was actually disappointed that hers didn't do that. It would have been pretty bad ass.

"It's easier to do with laser rifles, so that's probably why." Kagami told her. "Like I said I don't know the details, but pretty much there's a chance that when you're hit from a battery generated laser, particularly the micro-fusion ones, they can incite a massive chemical reaction that makes your mitochondria go crazy and generate enough energy to cause the cell to pretty much explode. This makes the adjacent cells do the same thing and eventually spread to entire body, causing it to pretty much disintegrate the entire body in seconds. Plasma weapons do something along the same lines but instead it pretty much melts people."

Konata stared at her with a blank expression. "Can I hear the version made for the less educated?"

"Laser makes body go flamey." Kagami answered and did a pretty impressive hand puppet of fire.

Konata nodded, mildly understanding what she meant. They crept up the concrete stairs to see what had melted the fiend. The "enemy of my enemy is my friend" phrase applied here nicely.

A blast of heat flew over Konata's head and she could feel her _ahoge_ go up in smoke. She quickly batted the fire out.

"Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to do that, sorry!" A small girl shouted from a dozen meters away. They subway stairs had led them up to a plaza in front of several large buildings in the heart of the D.C. ruins. Broken planters and concrete littered the area along with the rusted shells of cars. Super Mutant bodies dotted the plaza and their blood formed little rivulets that flowed into the gutters in a dark red stream.

The girl was barely taller than 4'8" Konata and had salmon hair with an _ahoge _similar to Konata's late one. She was wearing something that was vaguely similar to power armor, only skin tight and completely lacking in bulk.

With her there were another five people. All of them had steel-gray power armor, which instantly told Konata and Kagami they weren't Enclave. One of them wasn't wearing a helmet.

"I'm Akira Kogami, I'm really sorry about shooting at you. I thought there were more icky gross mutants coming that way." The girl said, introducing herself. Konata was instantly devoid of any rage she could have held for this person. Her voice and manner were too adorable to hold a grudge against. Kagami, however, could sense something sinister behind those bright bubbly eyes.

"I'm Konata Izumi and this is Kagami Hiiragi." Konata introduced, "What are all you guys doing out here?"

"We're here to help our buddies at Galaxy News fight off some Mutants." Akira replied in the same cheerful manner. "They're stuck there and that makes Akira sad!"

"Yes, they've been held up against them for sometime now." The man without a helmet added.

"Oh cool we're going the same way." Konata said, "Mind if we go along?"

"We'd love to have you, the more the merrier and all that." Akira replied.

No one asked what their business with GNR was as they moved on, not long after heading out down the debris strewn road Kagami decided to probe at the man with no helmet; something about him seemed really out of place.

"So you guys are the Brotherhood of Steel right?" She asked conversationally.

"Oh, yeah, yeah we are." He replied nervously. "I'm Minoru Shiraishi, I'm a Paladin just like Akira-sama but this is my first big time mission."

"Aww, Shiraishi is nervous about failing in front of Akira." Akira said in a voice that was hard for Kagami to tell if it was serious or mocking.

"It's not like that at all!" Minoru replied quickly while blushing.

Akira voice turned to acid instantly, that cute girl that she was seemed miles away. "Oh so you think you're some big hot shot who can dick around and get away with it because he's a Paladin now, huh?"

"No, no I'm still going to try my best, in fact even harder now that I'm a Paladin like you." He quickly said in his defense.

"Listen kid, there's some mutants over there in that old school building." She told him while pointing at a burnt out building at the end of the street. "We gotta get through there so just sit back and watch a professional do the work; in fact all of you just sit back and watch this. Maybe you'll learn something." Minoru agreed, the other Brotherhood of Steel members kept silent. Both Kagami and Konata doubted how skillful this little girl really was.

They made their way to the ruined building. At Akira's command everyone stood back and watched her grab her laser rifle and fire several shots into the air leaving long tracing red lines.

Almost instantly, half a dozen mutants sprung to the ruined windows and fired down on them. The others took advantage of the burnt cars and ruins and quickly got out of sight. Akira ignored the raining bullets; she fired three shots like clockwork at one in a window. Its face melted into an ashy pulp and fell back.

Kagami stood corrected as Akira downed three others as well. Then another two fell as well as they desperately charged her with a nail board and sledgehammer.

"All clear." She shouted in her cute voice, and reluctantly everyone regrouped with her.

"Akira-sama, watch out!" Minoru called as one straggling Super Mutant made a desperate charge with a sledgehammer. She looked up at it in wonder before it took a plasma rifle shot to face from Shiraishi, something occurred chemically within its body and it quickly melted into a thick green pile of goop.

Akira glared at him. Konata was expecting a happy explosion of "you're my hero" and stuff like that. She was proven dead wrong.

"_Don't you ever steal my kill again you ungrateful bastard. I have a quota to fill and you if you fuck this up I swear I'll have you on drill sergeant duty" _She screamed at him. He jumped back in surprise and muttered something about now wanting to die for an army that didn't respect him.

Just beyond the school was the GNR plaza, it had been turned into a battleground by a dozen Mutants firing down on the Brotherhood of Steel soldiers pressed behind sandbags against the building itself. The building a couple dozen stories high and was in miraculous condition. The courtyard was boxed in my all kinds of debris and rubble which made sure there were no ambushes.

The reinforcements quickly dispatched the Mutants, even Kagami and Konata managed to each secure their own kill in the quick chaos.

"Nice working with you two." Akira said after the battle.

"Same." Kagami said, Konata was strangely silent. In fact Konata wasn't even with her; she looked around and spotted her at the fountain in the center of the plaza.

"Kagami, check out what I found!" Konata yelled from inside the dried up fountain. Kagami jogged over and peered inside, Konata was standing over the body of a Paladin who had been brutally disemboweled.

"Come on Konata that's more than a little cynical." Kagami scowled

"No, not him. His weapon." She quickly clarified and hefted up the missile launcher he had died with. "Good find or what?"

Kagami briefly knew about this weapon, it was a missile launcher that fire mini-nukes and was used as an anti-tank weapon. "Konata, that's the kind of weapon that is guaranteed to kill all of us."

"But Kagamin" Konata said battered her eyelashes. "It's what I always wanted!"

"Put it back."

The blunette pouted and let the launcher drop back into the pool of blood from which it came.

"Cheer up." Kagami said and ruffled her short friend's hair. "Let's go see Three Dog." Konata said nothing and followed her towards the double doors that had been reinforced with steel.

Halfway there the ground shook beneath them. "Been sneaking Pocky's?" Konata smirked and pinched Kagami's stomach.

"What? No that wasn't me!" Kagami screamed in retaliation. If anything she was underweight after being in the Capital Wastes. "If it wasn't me than what was it?" She said to no one in particular.

A Knight Brother who was near the door shouted. "_Behemoth!_"

**WAIT A SECOND…**

"Oh yeah, we forgot to tell Konata that we're cousins." Yui remarked randomly. "I wonder how Yutaka is doing. I haven't talked to her in a few weeks; I hope she's not bored there in Arefu. Next time I see them I'll have them send a letter to her."

**NOW WHERE WERE WE?**

From behind a few turned over cars and a bus that blocked off an on ramp to a long since a collapsed high way, a monster burst through.

It resembled a Super Mutant in many ways, skin color and body proportions mostly. Except this one was thirty feet tall and wielding a fire hydrant attached to a massive steel pole as a makeshift mace. It charged at its nearest target, Akira Kogami.

"…so then I say, I don't care if they're kids we should euphemize them all and burn their little town." She continued her conversation with Minoru like nothing was happening. The massive mace came down on her, Minoru flinched expected the worse. Nimbly, she hopped out of harms way and kept on talking. The beast brought down its weapon in a sideways stroke; she gracefully crouched down and avoided it. Everyone was nearly too awestruck to do anything.

Gunfire erupted across the plaza as every able bodied warrior open fired on the monster. It was nearly impervious to bullets and kept on desperately trying smash its tiny target.

Kagami quickly sensed this was going nowhere fast. "Konata grab the fatman!" She commanded.

"Kagamin, there are two things wrong with that." Konata replied with a mischievous grin, ignoring the situation at hand. "You're a girl and that won't help us."

Kagami stared at her too stupefied to comprehend what she was saying. "The missile launcher in the fountain!" Apparently the proper name was lost on her.

Konata gave her a thumbs up and ran back the other way. She took the time to break the fourth wall and note the last three paragraphs stared with "Kagami".

The blunette vaulted into the fountain grabbed the blood stained weapon. She lined up the sights on the side with the monster that was still mindlessly pounding away at Akira, who still was barely acknowledging it.

When she fired she didn't expect the shot arc, it fell short of its target by nearly ten feet. Ten feet was barely an issue with the size of the explosion, a mini mushroom cloud appear and blasted the Behemoth with winds of napalm and fire causing to ignite. It screamed as napalm and nuclear fire ate away at its now blackening flesh.

Akira was getting to the juiciest part of her story when its scream interrupted her.

_"Don't interrupt me!_" She screamed, ironically she was interrupted again by it and her protest went unheard. "Gimme this." She said and yanked the plasma rifle out of Minoru's hands.

Even from nearly fifty meters away Konata got a clear view of the small girl somehow climb up the beast in seconds, and blast away at its head until nothing was left of it. It collapsed in a mighty boom as the rest of the attending Brotherhood of Steel cheered.

Konata and Akira were showered with praises and other such things. Eventually the situation cooled down and the two of them were finally able to enter the Galaxy News Radio building.

The inside contrasted the outside in cleanliness. The outside was littered with blood, debris, and corpses. While the inside was clean and relatively waste free as far as post apocalyptic standards went.

**SPIRIT OF THE RADIO**

"The look on your face says it all, who is this guy and why should I care?" A man said as soon as they entered the studio room. It was a black man with rather spiffy sunglasses and bandanna. "Let me enlighten you, I am the one and only, mighty and powerful Three Dog!"

"Finally!" Konata cheered. "We had to walk through a war to get here."

"Those Muties have been trying to get there way in here for months now, but I think our boys in power armor finally finished the bulk off." He replied in his eccentric radio personality voice. "So what brings you two cats all the way out here?"

"We were told that my dad stopped here to talk to you, I was hoping you could tell us where he went off next." Konata explained. Three Dog stood silent pondering something for a moment.

"Yeah your father passed through here the other day, said something about some scientific mumbo jumbo and something about project purity. I know where he's going but he was real adamant about me not telling you were he was going." He told her.

Konata looked at him in sheer amazement. Her dad genuinely didn't want her following him, which was a blow to the heart. It was too late to turn back now though, something was up and she was going to find out what.

"Come on you have to tell me, I've worked so hard to get here man!" She argued on the verge of tears.

"You know what…" Three Dog said and began to think something over. "You know what, do me a favor and I'll tell you where he went."

"Deal." Kagami and Konata said in unison.

**A "SMALL" FAVOR**

"Just set up a satellite dish for him on the Washington Monument?" Kagami repeated. Since it was late he had offered them of the spare rooms. One bed, but it would do.

"Easy huh? How hard can getting that dish from the Museum of Technology be?" Konata replied. Neither of them were happy about having to even more errands for people but this one seemed a bit more righteous than the tasks for Yui. Maybe not righteous but not outright pointless. The radio reception for GNR was terrible beyond Megaton which was relatively close to the D.C. ruins and towards the outer stretches of the Wastes there was no reception at all. Since GNR was built around helping people with the power of free speech, it was a worthy cause.

"Kinda crazy huh?" Konata pointed out randomly.

"Be more specific."

"About everything I've learned so far. Misao said that I was born outside the vault, that means that whole born and die there thing was a lie." Konata explained. "Do you think you were born on the outside too?"

"No, I know for a fact I wasn't." Kagami said matter-of-factly.

"But how can you be sure?"

Kagami sighed and answered. "I accidentally found the medical footage of my mom giving birth to me on one of the computers when I was trying to fix it. It was in medical ward." Kagami was blushing noticeably. Watching your own birth was rather unpleasant for some.

"Uh-huh." Konata said mildly grimacing.

They laid there in silence for what seemed like hours, both of them were exhausted but sleep was unobtainable. Kagami was restless and even after an exhausting day she couldn't find sleep. So she just laid there and stared into the dark, it was eerily silent and the only noise she heard was Konata's light breathing. The bed was small and they were shoulder to shoulder, but Kagami didn't mind the contact.

"Sorry about all of this." Konata spoke up.

"You always take up this much of a bed when we share one." Kagami replied, not understanding what she meant. "I'm used to it."

"I mean dragging you and Tsukasa with me out here." Konata clarified.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Kagami replied quietly. She didn't want to go through an awkward conversation like this.

Konata had lots of things she wanted to say and ask Kagami but no words could come to her, eventually she just dozed off.

**NO SALVATION IN SLEEP**

That night Konata had what she considered the worse nightmare of her life.

The two of them were in an old car tunnel beneath the city, zombielike ghouls had swarmed out of the shadows at them. Konata climbed on top of an old car and blasted away at them with a combat shotgun, cutting swaths through them with each shot. Kagami smashed through them one by one with her power fist, but they kept coming endlessly.

The battle seemed to be waning out finally. Kagami smashed the head of one that had slipped past Konata's defenses. Konata nodded in silent thanks.

Something knocked her off her feat onto the concrete below, the fall had hurt but it wasn't debilitating. It was a ghoul that had made its way to them impossibly fast, it was wearing tattered metal armor and giving a barely audible glow. She fired at it point blank with her shotgun and watched in horror as the slug bounced off its head in a flurry of sparks.

Kagami smashed it down with her power fist; it writhed in pain but was quickly up on its feet. It sprinted backwards into the darkness. The two of them stood back to back waiting for its next move.

Konata yelped as her eyes exploded in pain, it had thrown something into her face, temporarily blinding her.

The world went dark as she desperately dried to get this stuff out of her eyes; her Geiger counter clicked signaling that it was radioactive too. All around her seemed to be sounds of struggle and fighting.

Eventually her vision came back and the pain dulled to the equivalent of accidentally getting shampoo in your eyes. She looked around for the Irradiated Reaver and Kagami.

Konata stepped in some liquid and looked down to see Kagami on the ground with the slain ghouls.

What was left of her anyways.

**SWEET CONSCIOUSNESS**

Konata bolted awake in a scream. Kagami jumped up instantly, flailing her arms in the dark.

"Konata what the _hell_!?" Kagami yelled at the blunette. She instantly regretted it when she saw that Konata was crying, full blown crying not just whimpering.

"Konata…" She muttered hating herself for yelling at her. Konata said nothing and grabbed Kagami and held buried her face into her bare chest. Kagami said nothing and just held her for the remainder of the night. She was familiar with the kind of nightmares this hellish world could work. Maybe not the same kind of nightmares though but she still understood.

Kagami still had trouble sleeping the rest of the night, after being through a war zone, sleep didn't come easy. She eventually drifted off with the song _War Ensemble _by _Slayer _playing in her mind.


	7. Through Hell And

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 7- THROUGH HELL AND…**

In a way Kuroi was actually glad to be doing something again, it reminded her of her younger days when she was a "good" soldier. Being in the Enclave then was easy, when your superior officer told you to do something you just said "Sir! Yes, Sir!" and did what ever it was. If you were lucky it would be something vague enough to allow you room for imagination. Kuroi had a good imagination.

Her life before Enclave was relatively dull; she had worked as a scientist's aide in The New California Republic until Enclave pulled a massive recruitment drive. At eighteen she had already passed all the basic training with an amazing record and was ready to be deployed wherever she was needed. That place happened to be the Capital Wasteland, she quickly rose through the ranks after a series of campaigns against the raider gangs proved successful. Those times were some of her fondest memories, back then she was part of a group of soldiers aptly nicknamed "Hellfire Troops", in "Sigma Squad Beta", with their near impervious armor and mortars that rained napalm down on their foes. She was an officer by then, so she didn't have to wear the bulky armor. Instead she just marched around and shouted orders. After the majority of the raiders had been disposed, and she had been promoted to an officer, she got to spend the next eight years yelling at people and getting away with things, with the occasional decision making.

Now here she was at age 28 with practically full control over an entire Enclave base. The only person she had to take orders from was President John Henry Eden, and still she didn't really listen to him.

Kuroi read over the report faxed to her again, Estoc had promised a larger resource budget if this thing worked. However, the purification system hadn't been touched in nearly twenty years and was heavily occupied by Super Mutants. Figured. She wouldn't give up there though; all it would take to get this to work was a regiment of troops led by her.

Just like old times.

**PREPARATION **

"I don't want my girls going up against something they can't handle so take this." Three Dog said as Konata and Kagami were making their way out. He tossed a combat shotgun, which Konata managed to catch with some degree of grace.

"This'll do." Konata grinned and cocked the gun. Kagami stepped a few inches out of her line of fire.

"Remember to pick your battles, your going in deeper into the ruins and the Brothers won't be there to hold your hand. The Mall and the Monument should be pretty well defended though, just don't go towards Capital Hill. Talon mercs and Mutants have been at it for weeks and you'd get blown to pieces in the crossfire." He warned. They acknowledged his warning and made their way out.

"So how do we get there Navigator Kagamin?" Konata asked, she knew Kagami had the route.

Kagami tapped a few buttons on her Pip-Boy and answered. "We go through the old car tunnel over there…" She pointed towards the direction that the Behemoth had come from. "…we can find a subway there which will lead us the Mall. That's where the museum of Technology and Washington Monument are."

"Sounds actually pretty simple." Konata remarked.

"We're walking into where the Super Mutants came from you know." Kagami said crushing Konata's hopes once again.

"It's never easy is it?" The blunette rolled her eyes. _The wastelands suck, radiation sucks, why can't people make weapons of mass destruction that don't destroy EVERYTHING?_

They climbed over the wreckage of rusted cars and concrete debris, and found their way into the old car tunnel. Four lanes wide and grid locked, it was completely pitch black.

"Hold on, I see a maintenance tunnel over there, I'm gonna go and see if I can get the emergency lights on." Kagami whispered and slipped away. Konata stood there alone clutching the combat shotgun, this was eerily reminiscent of the dream she had the night before. After what seemed to be an eternity but was only five minutes a score of dim fluorescent lights flared on, they barely illuminated the darkness but it was still much better than before.

Now Konata could see everything perfectly, a little too perfectly. Besides the two-hundred year old skeletons, there were plenty of gory sights to see. Apparently Super Mutants had once used this tunnel as an outpost or base, behind they had left the fruits of their labor. At least a score of bodies were pinned to the walls by various means, to add to it, they were vaguely recent. Although they didn't release any stench, they still managed to assault the senses in an offhand, surreal way. Beyond that the Mutants had also butchered people and kept the horrible remains in nets.

"Did the lights come on?" Kagami shouted, her voice seemed miles away.

"Yeah." Konata responded barely hearing herself. If there was ever a time in her life she wanted to be somewhere else, now was it.

Kagami regrouped with the little blunette. She took in the sights and let out an audible moan of disgust. Silently, the two of them crept between and over the husks of cars trying their best to avoid any gory trophies the Mutants had left behind. Eventually the tunnel came into a cave in and the two were stuck wondering what to do next.

"There!" Kagami shouted and pointed at a service exit, she was becoming quite thankful that the paranoid architects left so many service passages. Ironically most of fission generated power still worked, leaving all the maintenance useless for anything other than travel.

"Kagamin saves the day again!" Konata cheered and jumped onto Kagami forcing her into a nonconsensual piggyback ride.

"Konata get off, your making the metal parts of my armor stab me!" Kagami growled and tried in vain to get the smaller girl off her back. Eventually Konata let the tsundere go.

This maintenance tunnel was devoid of collapsing catwalks, luckily for the girls. Kagami stopped at an old computer terminal to download the layout of the area onto her Pip-Boy.

"Wow…" Kagami muttered to herself when she looked over the schematics of the tunnels. "…these tunnels lead to every single subway station in the city and most of sewers. So we have to really watch out or we'll get lost quickly." She pushed Konata away who was climbing over her shoulder to get a look at the mini-computer on her wrist.

"Kagami did you look at your stats?" Konata asked, her voice was dripping with uncommon concern.

"You mean my vitals, why?" She asked and switched back to the screen that showed them, she had it up for only about and Konata managed to catch something. And there it was, apparently she had three broken ribs. It was displayed on the screen an outline of the Vault-Tec poster boy with three x's on his chest.

"Dr. Konata to the rescue!" With that Konata produced a stimpaks from her messenger bag.

"Do those fix broken bones?" Kagami asked, if the bones were out of place the healing would more than likely mend them into the wrong shape or angle.

Konata shrugged and stabbed Kagami in the chest with the needle. Kagami flinched at the sting, but was more worried about any side effects. After that little medical operation, they continued their trek through the underground.

The maintenance tunnel looped around back to the car tunnel past where it had collapsed in. The problem was at this part the tunnel was built over limestone which had sunken in decades ago leaving a forty foot deep pit.

"Let's try another way, then." Kagami shrugged and turned around. She wasn't worried since the tunnels were so extensive they could find their way to pretty much anywhere in the city. Kagami navigated them by letting Konata hold her hand lead her forward while she told her what direction to take at the next intersection. Not quite the most original idea but it worked nonetheless. Eventually they found their way to the central metro station. It was eerily silent as the climbed ancient escalators to the uppermost level. From there they could make their way to the museum station and The Mall.

The uppermost level was mostly debris free but still littered with graffiti from raiders long since past. Silence was shattered by the out-of-place cry from what sounded like an infant.

"What the…?" Kagami muttered and looked around for the crying culprit. Right in front of them, was a toppled over baby carriage.

"What's a kid doing down here?" Konata asked and approached it. Kagami saw through the ploy instantly when she saw a sinister orange glow barely peering through the canvas of the carriage.

She sprinted over and forcefully pulled Konata back just before it detonated. The two of them hit the ground and bits of shrapnel and debris rained harmlessly down on them.

"We're even now." Kagami said as she helped Konata back to her feet. "Just try to avoid anything that looks suspiciously cute. That includes Akira-san and to some extent Tsukasa on her weird days."

Konata chuckled and brushed herself off. "Was it one of her weird days when she managed to create napalm and nearly kill us all two years ago?" They had told Tsukasa that they had let it go, but in reality it was recurring joke between them. The act itself wasn't particularly laughable but it made them laugh trying to think of what Tsukasa was trying to make when she stumbled upon that dangerous recipe. Little did they know it had actually saved her life very recently.

The girls moved, now they were keeping an eye out for other traps lying around. Besides a few rusty bear traps. the coast was clear. Seemingly out of nowhere, Kagami fell backwards and pulled Konata down on top of her since she was still leading her by hand.

"Sorry, spaced out for a second." Kagami muttered, her face was burning bright red from embarrassment.

"Jeez you're turning more into Miyuki every day," Konata chuckled "get more moe factors and pretty soon I won't be able to keep my hands off of you."

"Good to know." Kagami said under her breath and pushed Konata off of her.

"What were daydreaming about anyways?" Konata asked, cocking her head sideways.

"I dunno, just thinking about random stuff. Nothing noteworthy by any means." She lied.

_Wow Hiiragi, the whole country is in awe, you managed to completely reclaim Anchorage alone against an entire Chinese battalion with tanks and stuff with only your fists and a box of Pocky. We're all wondering, how did you do it?_

"When you're a level 19 wizard any thing is possible." Kagami said out loud with smug grin that exposed her teeth. She then realized she had said that aloud.

Konata burst into a fit of laughter. "Kagami…that…face you made." Was all she managed to say between the bouts of giggles.

Kagami got up and walked as fast as she could away trying to hide her blushing face.

**CAPITAL HILL**

The mall was an amazing sight. Even after large buildings were constructed all around the Washington Monument it was still an impressive sight. Konata remembered briefly seeing the Monument from the entrance of Vault 101 standing out of the ruins when they first arrived here. Up close it seemed smaller for some reason. Two-hundred years had taken a toll on it though, sections of it's body were missing and gave it a look of torn patchwork. It was both amazing yet strangely saddening.

"According to my map the Museum of Technology should be…" Kagami looked around at the ground. "Here. That's not right, considering the Maryland mix-up too it's safe to say that this thing is broken." She waved her left arm around and kneed the tiny terminal.

"Kagami?" Konata addressed, Kagami saw she was sporting her devilish grin. Then she found out what the blue haired fiend was trying to get across.

"Oh." Was all Kagami could say when she realized that the museum metro station had taken them to the front of the Museum of Technology. The two wanderers entered the lobby of the museum and both doubled over in unison at the smell. Someone or something had gone out of their way to butcher at least a dozen people and spread their remains across the lobby.

"The radio dish that we need to get is on the Virgo 16 model." Kagami said barely managing to keep herself from choking. The two of them hurried into a side hall that was thoroughly less smelly.

"Where's the model at?" Konata whispered. She wasn't sure why she was whispering, but it seemed appropriate.

"Dunno, lets find a way to wherever the security is and go from there." Kagami whispered back.

Konata followed Kagami through more halls and empty rooms, all the exhibits had been either looted or destroyed at least a century ago leaving the place with a necropolis atmosphere.

"Hey Kagami check this out!" Konata whispered loudly and showed her faded piece of a magazine article.

Kagami took it and examined it, all the text was to faded to possibly read. All that was left was a barely visible picture of some old band. "What about it?" She asked with a heavy shrug.

"Kagamin, that's the legendary band _Abnormality_!" Konata replied, sounding taken back that she didn't know that obscure tidbit.

"I've never heard of them, why are they legendary?" Kagami asked, in truth she could care less.

"Because they're _cursed." _Konata said and emphasized it with some wavy finger gestures.

Kagami chuckled, "How could a band be cursed?"

"Not the band but a single song of theirs." The blunette clarified, she could tell Kagami was even more lost. "Once upon a time a tyrannical company, named _Harmonix,_ used a song by them called _Visions_ in their game _Rock Band 2_. However, they weren't an actual band!"

"Konata that doesn't make sense."

"Don't interrupt me. Anyways the band was actually a group of descendants from holocaust survivors that were kidnapped by _Harmonix,_ and forced to record a metal song in less than five minutes. After they finished, _Harmonix_ killed them in a satanic ritual that would allow them to get the rights to add more songs to their game every week for all eternity."

"So what, does the song in the game haunt people?" Kagami asked. She had the feeling that something that story was incorrect.

"Okay it's not actually, cursed but it did destroy the music industry. When _Harmonix _made the note chart for the song they made it so players had to play four times as many notes as they heard. There was a challenge in this game to beat all 84 songs in a row and this one was 82, many young players would trainwreck at that song and are forced to quit and replay the whole thing when they were better. This caused a massive rebellion that made all the angry players do a public lynching of the entire _Harmonix_ staff."

Kagami just stared at her. After much getting lost back and forth they finally found what used to be the security center. It didn't take much for Kagami fire up the old fission generators and get the old terminals working again.

"What's the plan chief?" Konata asked, she had put on an old police hat that looked surprisingly well on her despite the years of dust on it.

Kagami who was sitting at terminal answered. "Okay grab the headset and walky-talky from desk over there." Konata obliged and fit earpiece into her own ear. Kagami did the same and flicked a switch on the walky-talky. "Hear me through it?" She asked. Konata nodded, she could hear Kagami's voice echoing through the earpiece.

"Good. Now I'm gonna stay here and lead you to where it is using the security interface." Kagami told her.

"So I have to go in alone?" Konata asked. She had no problem of going in alone but for some reason it didn't seem right to leave Kagami here. After that incident with the catwalk, and last nights dream she didn't want that tsundere out of her sight.

"If you're too afraid I can draw the map on paper and we could go together." Kagami suggested. She didn't mean to make it sound like a challenge or like she was belittling Konata, but it came out that way.

"You're going to want to head back to the lobby and into the west wing which is directly to your right if you're coming in from the front door." Kagami's voice informed her. Konata said nothing and mentally prepared for the stench that would assault her again. She sprinted through the slaughter house room and blasted through the double doors. However, they weren't rusted shut like she expected, and she stumbled through blindly into the unknown.

**RENTACOP KAGAMIN**

Back in the security room Kagami heard an exhibit go off somewhere in the building. Some cheerful business sounding man was describing how great vaults were, she quickly found and read memo on it and found out that the exhibits activation was proximity based.

"Hold on Konata I got something moving around up here." She said into her headset and left the room to get a better idea of what set off the exhibit. Kagami hoped against hope it was just a radroach or something. The exhibit had gone silent a few seconds after she left the room, but now she could here footsteps. Heavy ones. She had also forgotten to take the walky-talky with her, the wireless headset didn't function that far out of range and Konata's cries went unheard.

**ALONE**

Konata growled in frustration at the useless walky-talky when she got no reply. She knew Kagami wouldn't just abandon her there.

The source of the carnage in the lobby revealed itself. On the other side of the double doors was a massive room at least a hundred feet high with stairs winding around it. In the center a model rocket stood nearly touching the ceiling from the bottom.

From where she was standing, Konata could see at least six Super Mutants on various floors below her. To her dismay the loud burst through the door had caught their attention. At this range both the assault rifle and shotgun were extremely ineffective, and she left her pistol back in Megaton with Yui.

"Grenades!" She whispered to herself when she remembered that she still had those frag grenades she got from Yui after the whole Minefield extravaganza.

The Super Mutant on the level below and across her was already having a bad day; he had lined up a perfect headshot at her, but was foiled when his gun jammed. Now the human had thrown a rock at him

Konata couldn't help but cheer when her target was thrown off the balcony by the explosion, its broken frame smashed against the model rocket before descending downwards.

She had to think fast now. That was her only grenade and the other Mutants were fast advancing, not to mention Kagami wasn't responding. Konata grabbed her assault rifle and trained it on a Mutant sprinting its way towards her, it was a long shot but worth trying. The gun clicked empty and she dropped it in frustration. _Duh I ran out of ammo against the Behemoth and there's no way I could use the shotgun at this range._

_Not at this range_. Konata ran back to the door she had burst through, and dashed immediately to the right of it. From here they would walk right into her line of fire and be blasted in half with 12 gauge shells. She crouched down and steeled herself for their imminent attack.

The first one through looked towards the semi circle desk and balcony of the lobby, and was nearly blown in half by the force of Konata's shotgun. It let out one gurgled cry before dieing. The second paused at its predecessor's feat before having its head splattered against the adjacent wall. The third had caught on and came in facing the wall; it took a shot in the back after realizing it was the wrong one.

Konata couldn't believe how easy that'd been, she was afraid that she would be dragged into some firefight where she was out manned and out gunned by a dozen Mutants. After several minutes of waiting she was sure that they had stopped their suicide charge. Of course it wouldn't be a good idea to poke her head through the door.

"Kagami, you there?" She asked again through the headset. Still no answer. At this point the best of course of option was to go check the security room to see if Kagami was still there, talking through a broken radio or something…The something being much worse.

After getting lost twice through the wide rooms and narrow halls Konata found her way back to the security room. Konata felt a sinking feeling in her gut when she found no one was there. Kagami's stuff was still there, but no Kagami. She sat in the old chair that Kagami had originally been and looked at the terminal. There was a 3-D map of the wing where the Mutants had attacked her; the large room with the rocket had been six stories high.

After fiddling around with the command console options she found a nifty little command that showed the 3-D map with thermal vision to pick up on all living things. Apparently it had been designed find Chinese covert spies in case they attacked the building. Konata came to the conclusion that prewar people were a little paranoid. The thermal scan showed about two dozen large hulking heat blobs trapped in a room vaguely shaped like an octagon. Further inspection showed that someone had locked them in there remotely.

The door opened and Konata yelped in surprise and fell backward out of her chair. There was a familiar girl with two long lavender pigtails; she was carrying a large satellite dish on her back. She was followed by another girl who was barely an inch taller with much shorter hair.

"Tsukasa!" Konata cried, she jumped to her feet and hugged the younger twin tightly.

"Kona-chan I missed you!" Tsukasa cheered and hugged her back.

"Found her wandering around some Vault exhibit." Kagami said and ruffled her sister's hair.

"Where did you go?" Konata asked after letting go of her.

"Well…." Tsukasa began."This guy pretty much kidnapped me and took me to Maryland and made me pay him 638 caps to get back. I had to look allover to find that money and I ended up helping this ghoul fight off some creepy tribal people. It was totally scary!" Tsukasa explained, she barely registered the stupefied look she was getting from both the other girls. "I helped him fight them and then I helped him more by finding out why the tribal guys were attacking him. To join them I had to eat this weird seeds which made me have some dreams, oh yeah then that guy from the boat cut out part of my brain I think, I don't really remember. It turned out though that the tribal guys were being led by a brain that was 200 years old. I mediated the ghoul and the brain so the became friends and I got enough money to leave. Oh yeah then I got this Necronomicon and scary swamp mutants tried to sacrifice me but I escaped and got a cool sword from them." She finished the story by showing them the rusted ceremonial sword and thick black tome.

"How did you end up here then?" Kagami asked, she had just found Tsukasa wandering the halls randomly.

"Oh yeah!" Tsukasa said like she had suddenly remembered something. "I heard that guy on the radio saying that you two were going this way so I came here to see if I could help and then I found onee-chan." Konata glared at her curiously. Somehow something in that whole story sounded…incorrect. Not to mention somewhere along the way during Tsukasa's journey she ditched her 101 jumpsuit for a loose white tank-top and cargo shorts. Her look seemed wrong somehow, it didn't fit little ol' Tsukasa at all.

On their way out Kagami proudly recounted the story of how she and Tsukasa used their wits to trap almost every single mutant there into a planetarium and lock it from the outside.

The Washington Monument was only a twenty minute convenient walk away. A make shift gate and fence had been constructed around it, at the gate two fully armored Brotherhood of Steel knights were stationed with bulky mini-guns.

"You must be the ones were told to look out for." One of them called out when the girls approached. "Take the elevator up and just place it where the old one was. It's getting late so we set up a few mattresses up there so feel free to crash here for the night."

The three of them thanked him and climbed into the elevator. The ascent was shaky and it felt like the elevator would fall back down at any second. Luckily it didn't, and they made it up safely. It didn't take them long to find the spot where the old dish had been, apparently a Super Mutant had gotten an incredible shot off at it with its missile launcher. Kagami fixed the new one in place easily.

"Onee-chan look at this!" Tsukasa cried, she was standing at the balcony looking at the DC ruins from up above. Konata next to her look equally mesmerized.

Kagami joined them and looked up into the distance; she could see the entire ruined city along with the drab brown countryside in the twilight. It didn't give the same sense of amazement that it gave her sister and Konata; it filled her with this strange feeling bitter loneliness. Not just loneliness but incredible longing for her home back at Vault 101, she hadn't been able to wear clean clothes or bathe in nearly two weeks now. She left the others to their viewing pleasure and stripped out of her armored jumpsuit. It was more of a curse than a benefit with its metal scrap armor. The night was cold but Kagami didn't feel affected by it, her shivering seemed a million miles away. All she could concentrate on was her equally cold bitter melancholy.

Konata had taken this time to catch Tsukasa up on everything they found, she had left out the part where Kagami nearly fell to her death.

The two of them retreated away from the balcony after an hour of talking and stargazing to find Kagami in a curled ball on one of the two dirty mattresses shivering. Konata felt sympathy deeper than she had every known looking down at the older twin; she hated her self for bringing Kagamin into this.

Kagami didn't belong or deserve to be out here, in Konata's eyes her existence was a miracle. She was intelligent, beautiful, strong willed and a natural prodigy at anything she did. In the Vault she was meant for greatness, whatever she chose to do she could master it. Out in the Wasteland intelligence and a strong will only got so far, and the ones who did succeed only ended up abusing their power like the Enclave. She took that moment to look up at the night sky and pray that Kagami would never fall to the vices that claimed so many others.

Konata knew she was taking Kagami through hell with no sign of turning back.


	8. Resurfaced Memories

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 8- RESURFACED MEMORIES**

The young leader was ready to retire for bed that morning after a long night; The Family had been forced to slay the neighboring towns Brahman Cattle for food since their own reserves had run dry. She hated to do it, but the alternative was much worse in the long run. An endless price they had to pay for a little tweak in their genetic code. She stood at the top of the subway station they called their home and looked down at her Family. Not a real family but still bound by blood in their own way. To her right, their newest member approached her.

"Yutaka." She greeted in her flat almost monotone voice.

"Are you going to bed soon Minami-chan?" The tiny girl asked.

"Yes, we had a hard night." The taller mint-green haired girl replied. "I hope you are adjusting well in your new home." Yutaka adored Minami, they had only known each other for a short while, but Minima Iwasaki knew more about her _problem _than Yui or her parents ever did. She had taken her in and let her embrace it instead of hating herself for it.

The tiny salmon-colored haired girl was going to say something before she was interrupted by the doorman shouting something. "Iwasaki, we have company!"

She nodded to him in the darkness and placed her hand on her sword _Shishkabob _for whatever it was. Minami disliked using that blade over her katana _Vampire's Edge_, but the other blade was under a reforging process and was unavaliable. The foe who stepped forth from the subway tunnels that led to their home was much unexpected.

"Iwasaki-san, it's been nearly eight years now right?" Colonel Nanako Kuroi said with fanged wicked grin.

"Get out." Minami replied flatly. She was extremely surprised to see her, it was strange how much Kuroi had changed but still seemed the same. The last time they had met, Kuroi was little more than a girl with shoulder length blonde hair and a mischievous smile that could melt hearts. Now, standing before Minami, was a woman who looked so different but still had that same evil smile. Her hair was now down to her waist and was in a ponytail, she also had obtained a high ranking officers coat that was decorated with medals. But that smile was still the same. The chaotic, yet neutral, smile that said, _"Hey I either going to save your life and throw you in the way to stop a bullet. Either way, it doesn't make much difference to me."_

"I don't think so, Iwasaki." Kuroi's friendly tone instantly turned to acid. "If I recall right you owe me big, you had a death warrant on your head by both Enclave and Talon Company for your little stunt and I cleared it up." Minami flinched at that. True Kuroi had cleared her head but being in debt to an evil power hungry monster hardly seemed worth it. Not to mention Kuroi had done much darker things than Minami had ever even considered. Kuroi and her _had _been friends at one point though, and that lingering knowledge made each encounter they had extremely awkward.

"I've kept my mouth shut about your dirty deeds as well Nanako." She hissed. Minami was afraid of this turning into a contest of who could name how many war crimes they had each committed as Hellfire Troops in Sigma nearly a decade ago. Minami's crime seemed a justifiable one; she had slain the late General Maynard's right hand man Force Colonel Sunderland Atkinson, after he had slavers personally capture her mother to be his own pleasure thing.

"That's fine and dandy I guess, because you have no one to tell." Kuroi smirked; she was in charge around here so it didn't matter who Iwasaki told about her. "I'm not here to wage war or anything; I just need your help with something."

"No." Minami replied instantly.

"At least listen to me." Kuroi said, her tone suggested she was getting irritated.

"I should cut you down here for what you did to those innocent people at that relay tower." Minami growled and unsheathed _Shiskabob_.

"Oh, now you care about that?" Kuroi laughed and crossed her arms. "Listen I'm not here to dick around, I just need you to gather info for me."

"I would never aid you in whatever malicious campaign you have thought up!" Minami cried and lunged at her. Now she would finally bring Kuroi to justice after all that had happened all those years ago, the rage and revenge building up inside her could now be released.

Kuroi side stepped her with impossible grace and speed. "Okay you want to play, lets play." She hissed.

Minami swung at her horizontally, Kuroi bent backwards so that the blade only barely missed her neck. From there she grabbed Minami's arm and with speed Minami could barely follow, Kuroi brought her knee up into her elbow.

The green haired girl cursed herself for forgetting that Kuroi did, in some way, earn her position, it wasn't like she had just been promoted randomly. President Eden had his eyes on her from the start. And now she was paying dearly for engaging this madwoman in combat.

Kuroi's knee came up and smashed through Minami's elbow. Yutaka who was unfortunate enough to be there at the time watch is dismal terror as the bones from Minami's elbows tore through the skin on the opposite side of her arm in a fountain of gore.

"_Minami-Chan_!" Yutaka screamed, she desperately charged at Kuroi. Nanako smiled at her and planted one booted foot into the tiny girl's face, breaking her nose and knocking her unconscious.

She then pulled Minami up by her wounded arm causing another more grunts of pain from her. Kuroi remembered well that Iwasaki never screamed under any circumstance.

"So you're going to be a good girl and do what I say right?" She spat.

"Bite…me." Minami growled through clenched teeth. Kuroi noticed admirably that she was still holding her rusted homemade sword; she tore it loose from her and stabbed it cleanly through Minami's right knee.

Minami let out another growl of pain and spat blood at Kuroi, who just shook her head.

"Enjoy your tetanus. Time to start breaking fingers now, huh?" She shrugged. Nanako looked around for a moment, and something came to mind.

"Obviously you don't care what happens to you." She stated and walked to Yutaka's crumpled form. Minami mouthed the word _No _when she saw Kuroi hovering over the tiny girl with a Ripper, a combat knife with a rotating blade like a chainsaw. One of the most evil weapons ever created. It's lack of conventional use in battle was what made it evil, it was obviously a weapon created for pain and torture.

"I'm just asking for you to gather some info on a certain party." Kuroi said sounding almost desperate in Minami's ears. "I really shouldn't have to cut out this poor girl's heart and feed it to you for your cooperation."

"I'll do it." Minami said through the pain. She remembered that Kuroi was ruthless and would do anything to get the job done, but this was just ridiculous, like something inside her snapped or she had spent the last several years reading torture novels. She wasn't a stranger to Kuroi's gross disregard for human life, but torture was new. Minami considered that this may have been a bluff, she quickly disregarded that idea. What was one little girl to her? She had burned down a barn full of innocent men, woman, and children when a battle had turned south for them. _"Screw it, if we can't rescue those people then lets make sure that they can't use them as slaves. No one wins."_

Kuroi stepped away from Yutaka and crouched down next to Minami's crumpled, bloody form. "Okay, I just need you to dig up some information on the people who were in Project Purity twenty years ago."

"Why me?"

"Because coincidentally you happen to be friends with one of the major scientists that worked with it," She pointed at Yutaka briefly, "you're girlfriend there happens to be the niece of the one of person who ran the whole thing." Of course Minami hadn't had prior knowledge of that; to her it was a strange coincidence.

"Project Purity was before my time, I don't know anything about it." She muttered, which was the truth, she doubted Kuroi would believe it though.

"Hiyori Tamura, where is she?" Kuroi asked sternly.

"You want me to lead you to her just so you can torture her too?" Minami growled, anger surged through and she momentarily hated herself for being in this pathetic wounded state.

Kuroi slapped her across the face hard enough to draw blood. "Wrong, I just need all her notes for my boys back home. Instead of preying around here, I'm actually doing something good for once."

Minami thought for a moment, she knew if she didn't give Kuroi any information she would continue her sadistic game probably move on to Yuta-…. No, she wouldn't even think about that. "Rivet City, she's the lead scientist there." Minami answered honestly. Kuroi glared at her for a moment then stood up.

"Nice catching up with you Iwasaki-san." She smiled and began her journey out of the old subway station Minami had set up her "Family's" home in. Luckily for her the rest of the members, save the littlest one, were all out on various tasks. Now it was time to board her Vertibird Helicopter and fly to Rivet City to pay one Hiyori Tamura a visit.

**TOGETHER AGAIN**

An hour after the girls woke up and left the Washington Monument they heard something interesting being broadcasted on the radio. Konata had it on just as background noise when Three Dog broke in with one of his "special announcements".

"Hey Izumi, I heard you got the job done and now I'm keeping my end of the deal. Your dad went to meet up with some egghead from Rivet City; Hiyori Tamura I think was her name. Anyways thanks again and I hope you got this because this saves you at least a three hour walk back."

"Wish we had gotten that earlier." Kagami groaned, they were going through the Metro Central again already.

"Where is Rivet City anyways?" Konata asked, it was part rhetoric because she wasn't expecting either of them to know.

"I was near it before I got taken to Point Lookout." Tsukasa answered, "We just head down the shore of the river and go north up the coast and it's there." Konata raised an eyebrow in surprise; so far Tsukasa was proving exceptionally useful since she got back. Not that she wasn't before, just now she useful in a more practical way.

"Lead they way then, Tsukasa." Kagami said and stepped behind her. Tsukasa glared back at her nervously.

"I don't know how to get to the Potomac River from here actually." She admitted. Luckily Kagami did know how to use her Pip-Boy to get them there. They spent an hour navigating through subways and sewers before the finally emerged out of a door at the shore of the river from the sewage treatment plant they found their way through.

"So we just follow it that way?" Kagami asked and pointed east down the river.

"Yeah, just go that way and turn left when we hit the ocean." Tsukasa told her. The three girls followed their way down the ruined riverfront; the water was shallow to the point where they could have waded across at several points. There were various signs of battle around along with occasional Mutant corpse which hinted that the Brotherhood of Steel may have hiked through that way.

Before long they made their way to the coast, on the north side of the river the Jefferson Memorial stood against the horizon. They glared at it curiously; it looked like someone had built a water treatment plant around it.

"This way?" Konata asked pointed north further up the coast from the Jefferson Memorial. They ignored it and moved on.

"Yeah, that way." Tsukasa replied. They pressed on passing the time with idle conversation. Soon after they passed the Memorial an interesting scheme of events unfolded.

"Freeze you three!" Someone with a muffled, almost mechanical sounding voice commanded. The three girls turned around instantly to meet a man in black power armor with glowing sinister yellow eyes with a laser rifle trained on them.

"Where did you get those computers on your arms?" He asked, Konata couldn't tell exactly, but he sounded like he was about as old as she was.

"We got this when we were ten from Vault 101." Tsukasa answered immediately. Kagami shot her a death glare that silently spoke _don't tell strangers things like that! _

"A-a vault!?" He stuttered and lowered his weapon, Kagami cringed at that tone. It was a pleasant surprise sort of tone with a hint of underlying greed. "Uh, you three have to come with me because…uh…it doesn't matter, by the authority of Enclave I order you to come with me!" The three of them were each thinking that he didn't sound very convincing.

"Or what?" Kagami sneered; her quick mind formed a plan that could work around this Enclave soldier's obvious greenness. She had heard a few stories from Misao about Enclaves search for prewar technology and how the would kill anyone to get it. Vault 101 was chock full of that kind of stuff, and perfectly killable people.

"Or…" He paused a moment as if to think. "I'll shoot!"

Kagami seized the moment. "I don't think so, the safety is on, the microfusion battery is in backwards and you have the lens cap on." Neither one of those were true of course.

"Wait what?" The Enclave soldier stuttered and flicked on the safety and turned the microfusion battery around. He looked around weapon for a second, "What lens cap?"

"Here let me show you." Kagami said rolling her eyes, the mans greenness was so extreme she felt almost guilty for what she was about to do, her slender hand found its way into the Power Fist clipped to her belt.

"Wait this isn't a trick is-" The soldier was cut off when fifteen pounds of accelerated steel smashed into his helmet, the mental dented inwards and the Plexiglas eyes shattered sending glass into his real eyes. Of course his weapon failed to function; in his flurry of pain he dropped it after several failed attempts to discharge it.

Kagami took advantage of her opponent's state and pried the laser rifle out of his hands. She flicked the safety off and placed the microfusion battery the right way in.

Looking the other way she fired two shots ending the mans painful struggling on the sand beneath her.

**NO REMORSE**

"Including the raiders that makes your K/D ration 8:1 now right?" Konata asked.

"What are you talking about?" Kagami replied sounding rather annoyed, none of them had spoken about what had transpired twenty minutes ago. Kagami had taken the laser rifle with her and served as an uncomfortable reminder of how brutal wasteland life was.

"Your kill death spread." Konata clarified.

Kagami gave her a disgusted look, "Don't turn into a game you brat." She hissed and quickened her pace to gain some distance between the two of them, she had enough personal problems dealing with the fact that she had ended eight human lives since she got here. Konata making into a sadistic game wasn't helping.

"Oh come on Kagamin I was just kidding!" Konata cried and jogged to catch up with her. Tsukasa trudged behind them, hoping this wouldn't turn volatile.

"Leave me alone right now, I need my space." Kagami told her flatly, and quickened her pace even more to the point where she was nearly running.

"If you bottle in your emotions you'll turn into a sociopath lunatic and kill us in our sleep though!" Konata insisted.

"I liked it more when you made weight jokes about me." Kagami growled and slowed down when she realized Konata wasn't going to leave her alone. On their right a massive beached navy ship began to appear.

"So _that's _Rivet City…" Tsukasa said in wonder at the sight. The front part of the ship had broken off and was submerged for the most part, from their distance they could see bridge leading from a metal platform with stair leading up to it. It was another prewar relic that had stayed in miraculous condition, it was colored a dark steel and was caked in rust, but it looked watertight. From where they were standing they could see fighter jets still waiting for the day they would fly again. Kagami couldn't help but wonder if anyone had tried to get those things running again.

As they got closer, they passed a large helicopter that seemed almost fairly new in production. It sported two propellers at the end of two wing and had no signs of rust, which was unheard of among post apocalyptic vehicles. They would have investigated it more if it weren't for a man standing near the door to the cock pit. Everything about him radiated tension; his clean cut uniform was extremely out of place along with his black military cap with some officer insignia. As far as Kagami could tell he could have been Enclave but since she had never seen one of their officers it was hard to tell. She found herself reading his nametag, "_Major Wilder"_, he shot her a look that could kill and she quickly looked away and kept walking.

They ascended the stairs and crossed the fifty meter long metal connecting bridge and were met by blonde haired security officer wearing a prewar U.S. military uniform dyed back with the words "Rivet City Police" painted onto it. She had bright bubbly blue eyes, and a decent bust.

"New here?" She asked, barely paying attention. Her voice was sharp and high pitched, it had the undertone of some sort of accent but none of the three travelers could identify it.

"Yeah, we need to talk to a woman named Hiyori Tamura." Konata cheerfully replied.

"She doesn't like to be bothered, but I can point you to the science lab." The security officer replied. As the three girls were making their way past the metal doors to the inside of the tanker they heard the officers radio crackle loudly.

"Patty-chan, I need your help we have a bit of a situation." The officer grabbed her radio and replied back.

"Okay Tamura-san I'm on my way." She grabbed her Chinese assault rifle and looked at the three newcomers.

"You wanna see her, follow me then." She said and pushed them through the door. "Name's Patricia Martin by the way."

When the four of the arrived in the Science Wing; the conflict, whatever it may have been, had worked itself out.

The four of them walked single filed down a metal catwalk and down a small flight of stairs. Three people passed them on the way up, two in Enclave power armor, and a woman with waist length blonde hair in a pony tail wearing a long tan trench coat with dried blood around the sleeves. Something about that woman worried Kagami in a way she couldn't explain. It had something to do with that fanged smile etched on her face, it was a crocodile's smile.

"What's the trouble Hiyori?" Patricia asked. Hiyori looked up, and the three other girls got a good look at her. She was a petite girl with long dark hair almost as long as Konata's; she was wearing round glasses that were about the same size as Miyuki's. Her eyes were a deep chocolate brown, so deep that they could almost pass off as being a shade of purple.

"Nothin' I guess, some fancy Enclave colonel wanted information on some project I ditched years ago. It's kind of a coincidence since last week an old friend I used to know stopped in and…" Hiyori stopped when her eyes met Konata's. She stood up and got a good look at her.

"Kanata, how in the world?" She muttered to herself, Konata watched her face turn pale. Like she had seen a ghost. "No I was there when she died, that means you're…"

"Hey I heard my dad stopped in to talk to you not that long ago." Konata said, ignoring pleasantries, "Sojiro Izumi, you know him?"

Hiyori stared at her like she had seen a ghost; Patty glanced back and forth between the two girls and tried to decipher what was going on. "You're…You're Konata right?"

"Yeah."

"Your dad said you were still in the Vault, how did you…wait it doesn't matter. Anyways what are you doing here?" Hiyori asked so quickly that it was almost hard to understand her.

**GHOSTS OF THE PAST**

Konata told the story of how her dad had left seemingly at random and how the flustered security guards had chased the three of the out. Then went on briefly about everything they had to do to fight their way there. "...and if you could tell me everything about him and my mom and where he is now I would really appreciate it." Konata finished.

Hiyori sat for a moment in silence trying to collect her thoughts, first Sojiro popped up out of nowhere asking her to join him again in that old project which she politely declined. Then in the same day an Enclave Colonel showed up and then Sojiro's daughter.

"I know he doesn't want you risking your life chasing him but I'm going to help anyways." Hiyori told her, Konata stared intently back at her ready to eagerly absorb every word.

"He and Kanata, your mom I mean, had this idea to create a massive machine that generates clean radiation free water indefinitely. I jumped on board instantly when I heard about this and took the rest of my team here to help. We worked on it for a couple of years before Super Mutants arbitrarily started attacking; we got the Brotherhood of Steel to help us for awhile. Well, we weren't producing any real solid results since we were missing one key component. Then the Brotherhood stopped sponsoring us after several of their men died, not even a week later Enclave stepped in and tried to take it over but left when they saw we didn't have any real results. Then about a month later there was a big attack from Mutants and I remember Kanata still fighting alongside us, even though she was pregnant with you and could have gone into labor at any day. She put the Brotherhood of Steel to shame with that rifle of hers."

She stopped to grab a sip of Nuka-Cola and let Konata take all of that in. Fantasies about her mother's heroism even while 9 months pregnancy swam in her head. "My mom fought while she was pregnant with me?" She asked sounding almost completely stupefied, something about that was both disturbing and awe-inspiring.

"It wasn't like she was smashing them up with a sledgehammer, she would hide behind sandbags with a gauss rifle and take them out from there, she was a hell of a shot and even had a reputation back in California for it. After that big attack she gave birth to you, she passed away shortly after from some birth complications and we just abandoned the whole thing all together."

Konata stood there trying to think of what to ask next. "Where is my dad now?"

"He came back about a week ago and asked me if I wanted to start up the project again and I told him I had other things going on, I gave him all my original notes and he went back to the Jefferson Memorial alone." Hiyori neglected to mention that her latest project was actually a series of doujins featuring the slightly exaggerated adventures of Minami Iwasaki, the only woman to face a Deathclaw in melee combat and live. She would have been devastated if someone had told her how easily Kuroi had taken her down, just to be directed to her. Of course her art wasn't as important as free clean water, but realistically that dream was never going to happen.

"Jefferson Memorial?" Konata ask.

"Yeah, that's where our station was." Hiyori told her. Konata turned and looked at her two friends.

"Looks like our little quest is finally close to conclusion." She assured them. Some dark part of Kagami's mind doubted that bitterly.

**ALMOST THERE, RIGHT?**

So bam we have the story of Kanata and Sojiro sort of.

In hindsight Kuroi's little interrogation was a little bit…much. But I was feeling particularly blood thirsty when I wrote it. I know I left the personalities of the four characters introduced a bit vague and their stories a tad bit confusing but I promise later chapters will clear it up.

Once again I know Minami and Hiyori's ages are completely messed up but like I said just ignore it and enjoy the story. Well Minami isn't too off, she's twenty-four which isn't that unbelievable.

Their endless searching makes the song that goes with this chapter _Constant Motion _by _Dream Theater, _once again lyrically fitting if you like to play with metaphors.


	9. Perpetual Journey

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 9- PERPETUAL JOURNEY**

Once upon a time the mystical deity, Tastychainsaws, had an issue with his word processor and managed to butcher this chapter. He tried long and hard to fix this error and only just now realized what he did to cause it. It is too late to salvage it, so he must go and rewrite all of it.

I didn't change any content that was originally here. I just expanded it, descriptions and thoughts are now a lot longer than before.

**ONLY ONE MORE STEP RIGHT?**

Konata had so much on her mind that she was nearly twitching with anxiety. If Hiyori was correct, which Konata assumed she was, then she would be reunited with her father within the next couple hours. That was a very reassuring thought, especially since she had quite enough of the wasteland and it's wonders. Her desire for adventure was quickly fleeting now that they were routinely fighting things that shot back at them.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a helicopter with two propellers on either wing flew over them. It was heading north, which was the opposite direction that they were going. Konata thought that was probably a good thing, more so when she considered that the aerial vehicle probably belonged to the same group of guys whose soldier Kagami had wasted earlier that day.

"How do you like the beach?" Kagami asked her sister. They were heading south along the shore, but still avoiding the poisonous water that splashed up against the rocky sand. The sky, which was always an ashy gray or dull yellow, reflected into the water and gave it a sinister look. Kagami thought it was fitting since there were plenty of things in the water that would gladly feast upon them. Mirelurks weren't just the only aquatic menaces apparently, there were also Slaughter Fish that could strip someone down to a skeleton in seconds. There were also the Drough, which were mutated octopus human hybrids, whose agendas were not unlike those of Super Mutants.

"It's kind of sad actually." Tsukasa sighed. The broken rocky shore and dull gray water certainly wasn't nice to look at. She glanced up at the sky and saw the sun poking through the ever present clouds of ash, permanent nuclear winter certainly made nature lose most of its beauty.

"I know what you mean." Kagami replied, "Sorry I said anything."

In the distance, the Jefferson Memorial was looming and closer. It had originally been build above the tidal zone but now was now halfway submerged in water. From the outside it was hard to tell if it was watertight or not, the three of them each hoped that the interior wouldn't be flooded.

"Wow, they really working on something there." Kagami remarked when she saw the massive pipes and machinery weaving its way in and out of the building on the north side. She had originally thought that Project Purity was just some experiments with no real merit, but even two decades later you could still see the labor from several years worth of effort.

A massive metal catwalk was built along the west side, it made crossing the rocky shoreline easy. Konata looked west towards the DC ruins and saw a makeshift fortress of scrap metal and massive steel beams. Super Mutant build by the look of it, that metal catwalk had saved them the trouble of having to maneuver around that.

"Onee-chan look!" Tsukasa yelped and pointed at the bodies of two Super Mutants that were laying next each other on the stairs leading back down to the shore on the far side of the catwalk.

Kagami kneeled down and inspected the bodies. "Energy weapons by the look of it, these bodies can't be more than an hour old." She drew her newly obtained laser rifle, "Konata grab your shotgun, I doubt we're alone."

They had been alone though, the slayers of those Mutants were long gone.

**THE SLAYER BEING…**

Kuroi stepped out of her Vertibird onto the landing platform of the Enclave base- Raven Rock. Their search of the Jefferson Memorial had turned up absolutely nothing, the project had been completely abandoned. All she had found were some rambling notes from the old researcher, Sojiro Izumi, which she promptly crushed under her foot after hearing how useless they were.

The only useful recordings they had found had been from a woman named Kanata Izumi. Among her stupid raving about how excited she was to be a mother, she had mentioned something about where all her real data was. It had been hidden away on a computer terminal which was password protected and so outdated that it couldn't be hacked using the normal conventional method.

Overall the only thing they accomplished was killing off a couple dozen Super Mutants. Those things made Kuroi laugh in the face of the Brotherhood of Steel. _Those are what you are so worked up about? They're a minor convenience at best, those SATCOM raiders from that campaign six years ago were a much bigger threat. We have __**never **__had any trouble with Super Mutants, not once. In fact the those raiders almost won that battle at that farmhouse, I had to torch a few dozen citizens but we still won. _

Unless she could force Tamura and her team into restarting it then they were stuck. Water and its properties were not the Enclave's specialty. They were great at dealing mutated creatures and manufacturing new technology, but life sciences like that were not part of the package. So, unless Project Purity was miraculously restarted within the next week, Raven Rock would lose all funding.

That was _not _okay by Nanako, she worked hard, struggled, and bled for this place and was just now seeing real rewards. She would stop at _literally _nothing to make this work, there weren't any boundaries for her. Kuroi let go of any sense of remorse or empathy to others, that would only hinder her.

**THE JEFFERSON MEMORIAL**

Since the original front doors to the Jefferson Memorial were submerged in water and blocked by pipes, the three girls were forced to take a side door on the south side. They entered into a long hallway with a four way intersection in the center portion of it. On the right wall, just before the hallway intersected right, there was a computer terminal that looked extremely out of place.

"Where to now?" Tsukasa asked and peered down the hall. There were three more Mutant corpses sprawled out across the dim hall.

"We have to find my dad silly!" Konata reminded her and skipped merrily down to the intersection.

"Konata don't run ahead!" Kagami yelled, Konata turned around and smiled back while walking backwards.

"Kagamin, you're the one behaving like ghosts exist now." She giggled then walked backwards into the intersection with her hands behind her head.

Sadly Kagami's fears were instantly realized when she heard the sound of automatic weapon fire. She and Tsukasa screamed as bullets tore through Konata's tiny frame, the force of the rounds sent Konata spinning backwards. Bullets puffed against the ground and sent little clouds of dust and debris in all directions. Konata stumbled out of the line of fire then fell forward with all the grace of a bird who tried to fly with clipped wings.

Tsukasa and Kagami rushed to Konata's side, blood was forming in a thick pool around her. Kagami turned her over, her body was riddled with bullet holes from the unseen shooter, she was worse off than Kagami had been when she was shot in Minefield.

"You were right…" Konata muttered, "…getting shot sucks."

Tsukasa went to work quickly on their wounded friend. She retrieved her first aid kit, some stimpaks, and a combat knife.

"What's the knife for?" Kagami nervously asked.

Tsukasa gave her a worried glance. "The bullets didn't go through the other side. I…I have to take them out with this."

It was Konata's turn to panic. "Are you sure you can't just leave them in? No offense Tsukasa but I really, _really _don't want you to perform surgery on me."

"It'll be fine." Tsukasa assured her. "Now close your eyes and think happy thoughts while I take your jumpsuit off." Konata obliged and managed to let Tsukasa strip her down to her underwear, the process was exceedingly painful. Kagami paced around randomly, she didn't know what to do.

"Let me deal with the shooter." She told them then grabbed her laser rifle. Kagami made her way to the corner of the intersection and peered around the corner slowly. All that was in the next room was a circular desk in what looked to be a lobby.

She reluctantly stepped out into the open. On the ceiling she saw a bit of machinery turn to her and then there was a muzzle flash. Kagami leapt out of the way and tried to control her racing heart. "Shit, automated turret. That sure makes things interesting."

"_Ahh, I'm dieing! I can see all my guts!_" Konata screamed from back down the hallway. Kagami was about to have a full blown panic attack until she heard…

"Kona-chan I haven't even started yet!" Tsukasa reminded her.

"Oh yeah, was just practicing is all."

Kagami sighed, only Konata could continue to be silly with six bullet wounds. Now it was time to deal with that pesky turret, but how…The answer came to her in an instant, that was what the terminal right next her was for. Her guess proved correct, this terminal was indeed designed to work the turret. It was stupid trap since more experienced looters would have picked up on that instantly, not them however.

It was password protected, Kagami remotely linked her Pip-Boy to it and uploaded the last 1000 words typed into the terminal. One of those words was the password, she could also tell that it was twenty-one letter word, and luckily there were only 32 words ever typed into this thing. In other words the password was easy to find.

_Ilovegirlswithglasses _was what Kagami typed in, as luck would have it, the turret powered down. A grim and bitter realization came to her as the turret went limp and turned useless. _Sojiro set this turret up, and it just riddled his daughter with holes. He almost __**killed **__his daughter…_

"The turrets taken care of." Kagami told the other two and sat down next to them. Konata's chest was bandaged and the stimpaks were slowly doing their job, next to her were six reddened bulleted next to a bloodstained knife. That image made Kagami grimace, but at least Tsukasa was a decent surgeon.

"What should we do now?" Tsukasa asked, "Kona-chan isn't in any condition to walk and I want to stay near her incase anything goes wrong with the injury."

Kagami was expecting Konata to leap up and defy all odds, but instead the tiny blunette was fast asleep. _Asleep isn't right, she probably fainted at the sight of Tsukasa digging bullets out of her with a knife. _Judging by the blood everywhere, she was probably correct.

"Here's what we're going to do." Kagami began. "Leave her there and go into the restroom that's left at the intersection. All restrooms have a first aid kit, take the blood pack and give her a transfusion. It looks like she lost a lot of blood."

"Right." Tsukasa replied with a determined look on her face. "I know how to do transfusions. I'm a Vault-Tec certified doctor!" To prove her point she took out her wallet and pulled out a plastic card that stated that Tsukasa was an eligible to perform first aid. The stickers all over it took away from its seriousness.

"I know you are, now I'm going to go scout the place out." Kagami told her and stood up. "If I'm not back in an hour, come looking for me."

Tsukasa nodded and went to go find that first aid kit.

Kagami explored the Memorial as thoroughly as she could. There was no sign of life though, all she found were more Super Mutant corpses. Whoever had done them in had done it with almost mechanical precision, all of them were killed by energy weapons to the head. This was indicated by their charred skulls, which were usually no longer attached to their heads.

She found one room that looked extremely out of place, it was a bedroom; and a nice one at that. It was on the level below the ground one, the room it was in seemed like it was chosen arbitrarily. The queen sized bed had its elaborate red sheets tossed aside onto the ground, all the drawers of the armoire had been pulled out and their contents dumped on the ground. The entire place had been ransacked apparently, and not very well done either. At Kagami's feet were several audiotapes which had been crushed into small fragments.

Kagami looked around to try and find any sort of clue as to what her predecessor had been hunting for. She found a foot locker under the bed and searched it, there were more of those audiotapes, except these ones had been saved from the same fate as their crushed brethren. They were labeled _Project Purity Journal 1, 3, 5, 7, 8_. Kagami looked at the crushed ones and found they were labeled under the same name just with the missing numbers, and a few labeled _Personal Journal _which had also been relentlessly smashed. She could also see the remains of one named _Better Days_. Judging by the destruction at her feet, she assumed it was Super Mutant that had done it.

She gathered the intact ones and made her way back up to the ground level where Konata and her sister were. Sojiro wasn't here but these tapes could have the answer to where he was now.

"Onee-chan!" Tsukasa cried as Kagami regrouped with them. Konata was awake now and waved at her.

"No sign of your dad." Kagami said and sat down next to them. "Found these though." She displayed all of the audiotapes.

"Hey, I found some of those too!" Tsukasa said and showed Kagami seven that's she had found. When she had left to the bathroom, she went the wrong way and ended up in a large circular room that was almost made entirely out of glass. She found these on some machinery and decided to bring them back.

"What are we waiting for?" Konata asked and took the one labeled _Project Purity Journal 1 _and scanned it on her Pip-Boy, when she was done listening to it she moved onto the next. Then the next, and the next, and the next one after that…

Each one was a recording from her father.

**PROJECT PURITY JOURNAL 1**

"We're back at work after a full week of delays. The Brotherhood Soldiers were able to repair the sentry guns, much to my relief. I know Hiyori isn't comfortable having them here, but there's no denying that we'd be lost without them. We're still waiting on the full analysis of the last three small-scale purification tests."

"Kanata hasn't been feeling well, and it's slowing down our research. I don't mind, but I can tell it's bothering some of the others."

**PROJECT PURITY JOURNAL 3**

"Well, there's no more mystery behind Kanata's health problems. The news of her pregnancy has lifted the spirits of everyone here, and given us a renewed interest in making the purifier work. We now have a future generation to provide for."

"The latest tests show that our methods are horribly inefficient, but I think we're on the right track."

"Kanata refuses to rest; she insists on spending all day in the lab. I've never seen her more driven. She's determined to resolve the power problems before the baby is born. I've tried to reason with her, but it's no use."

**PROJECT PURITY JOURNAL 5**

"The team has made plans to scale back our work once the baby is born. We're also trying to compensate for the increase in mutant attacks; no one is really talking about the implications of it."

"There are more of them than before. We know it, and the Brotherhood soldiers know it. Our relationship with the Brotherhood is straining."

"They're concerned by the lack of concrete results from the project, especially in light of the mutant attacks. They haven't come out and said it, but we all know what's going on. They're questioning whether their involvement in the project is worth the trouble it's causing them. They lost two good men this week, with three more injured."

**PROJECT PURITY JOURNAL 7**

"I am at a loss. My beloved wife is gone. In her place is my daughter, small and helpless." "As much as this place means to me... As much as it meant to Kanata, this is no place for an infant. Especially an infant without her mother."

**PROJECT PURITY JOURNAL 8**

"It's time to go. The project was in trouble before, both internally and externally. Progress has come to a halt, both because our re-calculations have gotten us nowhere, and because the mutant attacks occur several times a day."

"I regret it has come to this. I know that if I leave, our work may come to an end. Hiyori has never been on the best of terms with the Brotherhood; aside from Scribe Rothchild, she'll tolerate none of them. If she's the one dealing with them, who knows what will happen."

"It breaks my heart to go, but I must put the needs of my child before my own."

**GUILT**

The emotions triggered by those tapes was not the one that Konata expected. It was earth shattering guilt, the feeling that it was _her _fault that Project Purity had fallen apart.

Kagami, sensing this, tried to make her feel better. "It's not your fault that it didn't work out. You heard what your dad said, the Mutant attacks and the strained relationship with Brotherhood of Steel would have destroyed anyways."

"I know, but it still makes me feel sick listening to it." Konata replied, "Let's play the rest of the tapes. These ones are from recent I think…"

**PROJECT PURITY PERSONAL JOURNAL**

"Well, here we are again. Project Purity and me. It's been close to twenty years since my last entry, as I left all of this behind to make a life for my daughter. We spent that time in Vault 101, tucked away from the rest of the world. It wasn't perfect, but it was safe, and that's all I could have hoped for. Now, my daughter is a grown woman. Beautiful, intelligent, confident. Just like her mother. And as hard as it was to admit it, she doesn't need her daddy anymore."

**PROJECT PURITY PERSONAL JOURNAL 1**

"So here I am, back where it all began. Project Purity. God, we wanted to change the world. We really thought the waters of life could be a reality. And that's why this is a momentous occasion. Because even after nineteen years, I still believe it. Project purity can and will be operational. This is just the beginning."

**PROJECT PURITY PERSONAL JOURNAL 2**

"This is day 2 of my attempt to resurrect this project. I've got one of the portable fusion generators up and running, but its just enough to power the emergency lighting and a couple of other systems. It will serve for now, but I need help powering up the mainframe. Time to visit Hiyori in Rivet City."

**PROJECT PURITY PERSONAL JOURNAL 3**

"I spoke with Doctor Tamura, Hiyori, at Rivet City. It went about as well as I expected. That is to say she thinks I'm completely mad. How can I blame her? She's got her own life, her own team, and is making real tangible scientific progress. Here I come again, the very paragon of failure and false promises. But the reality is, I need Hiyori and whatever scientific team she may have assembled. I can't do this myself. Project Purity is bigger than me, it always was. And without Kanata... God, I can't let this die. Not again, not like this."

**PROJECT PURITY PERSONAL JOURNAL 5**

"Even in Vault 101, my work on Project Purity never really stopped. Soon after we arrived, my nightly routine included sneaking into the restricted areas. Searching for, I don't know, whatever I could find. It was a Vault-Tec facility after all. The place was built with some of the most advanced technology this country had ever developed. Those excursions never turned up anything particularly useful. So one night, after half a bottle of scotch, I broke into the Overseer's office. It was easy enough to hack her console, gain access to the restricted files. Most of it was garbage: propaganda, spy reports, just plain rambling bullshit, really. But there was one thing, one name that stood out amongst all the others... Dr. Stanislaus Braun. I knew of Braun's work, of course. He was a celebrity in his day. Vault-Tec's sorcerer-scientist, leaving his peers in awe of his technological wizardry. But it was in Vault 101 that night in the Overseer's office, that I first learned of Braun's involvement in Vault-Tec's social preservation program, and his work on something called GECK, Garden of Eden Creation Kit. I can only imagine what Kanata's reaction to that would have been."

**PROJECT PURITY PERSONAL JOURNAL 8**

"To be honest, the GECK sounded like pure fantasy, even for someone of Braun's capabilities. It was nothing short of a miracle. A terra-forming module, capable of producing life from complete lifelessness. But not only was this thing a reality, it was actually distributed to several vaults to be used after an atomic war. Vault 101 was, sadly, not on that list. I did some digging and discovered Braun's name on the reservation list for a vault 112. I'm no slouch, but this man, he could have easily succeeded where I failed. Does his collected knowledge remain within the halls of vault 112? Journals, holotapes, computer records, maybe even experiments? If I could gain access to just a fraction of Braun's genius, Project Purity would become a reality."

**PROJECT PURITY PERSONAL JOURNAL 10**

"I'm off to Vault 112 to search for anything of Braun's that might help me get this purifier up and running. All I know is that it's West of some place called "Evergreen Mills," and it's well hidden in some sort of garage. But I'll find it, I have to. It's so close, but that's the story of Project Purity, isn't it? An eternity of "almost there's". Let's see if Braun has the missing puzzle piece."

**FOLLOWING IN HIS FOOTSTEPS.**

Konata stood up when the last tape ended and began walking towards the door.

"Wait where are you going, come back!" Kagami shouted and went after her.

"I don't know Kagami, west of some place called Evergreen Mills in some sort of garage." She replied quickly and kept walking. Tsukasa joined them and followed Konata outside.

"Konata charging blindly into the unknown is what got you shot!" A frustrated Kagami yelled. Konata stopped in her tracks causing Kagami bump into her.

"You're right." Konata muttered staring at the ground and shrugged. "So what do you think do then?"

"Me?" Kagami blurted out, she didn't really know. She took a few minutes to think about it. "I say we go back to Megaton and rendezvous with Yui again and start from there, for all we know there's radio broadcast from Vault 101 saying we can all go home."

Konata silently considered all she had said. "Okay, let's go there and make plans to find Vault 112. I want to help my dad finish Project Purity."

**OTHER FRUSTRATIONS**

"I told you for the last time that's all the data we have." The young officer, Major Wilder, growled. He hated this shitty "promotion". After his old boss, Force Colonel Atkinson had his throat chewed out by some crazy woman he'd been shifted all over Raven Rock. After failing to become a Vertibird pilot he ended up as the underling of Colonel Nanako Kuroi.

Kuroi snorted. "You couldn't find anything besides a random cluster of audio tapes about some dude whining about all his failures and dead wife?" After her initial search turned up nothing, she had another team do a more thorough one.

"Yes!" He told her desperately. For some reason his new boss refused to listen. "I keep telling you they abandoned the project for a reason and unless we pick it up ourselves, which we don't have the knowledge to do, it's staying dead!"

"The journal entries labeled personal said specifically their old lead researcher is picking it up again and Dr. Tamura clarified it too." Kuroi argued. "All I'm asking are some stealth eyebots so we know when they pick it up again. It's either that or we try my idea of trying to interbreed humans and Deathclaws again."

The officer placed his head in his hands and groaned. He prayed the eyebots would record something of value before Kuroi managed to kill every last one of them with her Deathclaws experiments. Just what the fuck was her fascination with those things anyways?

**YUI'S WORRIES**

They arrived at Megaton just after midnight and after several seconds of intense debate decided to wake up Yui. However, she was already awake. She led the three in and before even bothering to greet them asked them to do something, this time it was more justifiable. "Since I hadn't heard anything from my sister Yutaka I had Jericho go and check up on her in Arefu and he said that the mayor there said that she had gone missing after some raider gang called the Family attacked them a couple weeks ago, they probably already sold her into slavery or ate her or something. I need you guys to save her!"

With that she burst into tears. Neither of them was sure how to react. "It's okay Narumi-san we'll go out and save her first thing tomorrow!" Konata assured her, Kagami groaned at how easily she would change priorities.

"Thanks, you're the best cousin ever." Yui said with a smile and hugged her

"C-cousin?" Konata stuttered in surprise. Even more about her family was revealed that day.

**VACATION TO AREFU**

They woke around noon and Yui was practically pushing them out the door to find her sister. Konata wanted to ask more about her family and past but with other pressing matters it seemed she wouldn't get any answers anytime soon. Arefu was located northwest of Megaton and relative easy to find since it was only two hours away. The three of them set out with renewed spirits, Kagami got to sleep in Yao Guai fur pajamas since Yui felt guilty about accidentally melting her jumpsuit in a chemical fire the day before. Konata who had found so much that previous day was excited to possibly meet her younger cousin.

Tsukasa borrowed a book called "The wasteland cookbook" and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't about cooking at all. Right now she was reading up on how to make white phosphorus out of every day household items.

The town itself was situated on a major overpass the loomed over a very shallow part of the Potomac River, considering the overpass was nearly two hundred feet above ground the river must have been much deeper when the bridge was built. The bridge had collapsed midway and at the edge of collapsed was a cluster of homes. As they approached the settlement they passed a fenced off pasture with several dead two-head Brahmin that apparently had been slaughtered in a very violent manner. When they ascended the bridge an old man behind sandbags holding an assault rifle motioned at them.

"Get your asses up here it's not safe down out in the open!" They obliged and hurried to his makeshift sandbag bunker.

"Thanks for the warm welcome." Kagami muttered already not liking this place.

"Sorry but I don't want you meeting the same fate as our Brahmin down there." He apologized. "Names Evan King by the way, I'm the mayor of this little hellhole."

"I'm Konata and this is Tsukasa and Kagami, we're here because we heard that Yutaka Kobayakawa went missing during a raid." Konata told him, like the other two girls she just wanted in and out of this place quickly to move on to finding Vault 112.

"Yeah that's right." King sighed, "We don't know for sure but we think the Family took her for their own sinister goals."

"Who exactly are the Family?" Kagami asked since this name had popped up several times.

"Just another bullshit raider gang who thinks they can torment us because they have more men and more guns." He spat. "It's their leader who scare me the most, she's some ex-Enclave woman who will just sit at the edge of town and stare. I took a shot at her once, next thing I knew she's right next to me. She takes the gun out of my hands and just tosses it over the edge. What's worse is I've seen that little Kobayakowa girl talking to her at night sometimes."

"Any idea we're they are?"

"I couldn't tell you, my guess is the Meresti train yard because that's where I've seen them hang out in the early morning." He informed her.

"How are her parents taking it?" Konata asked, she was anxious to meet her aunt and uncle as well.

"Don't know." He shrugged, "Haven't heard from them in weeks."

Kagami stared at him in disbelief, Arefu was a whole four buildings. Some mayor he was. "You can go ask them your selves, there house is over there." King told them and pointed at the Kobayakawa residence.

They said their good byes and went to interview the parents of Yutaka and get their take on it. Kagami knocked on the door and waited several seconds for a reply. Nothing, she knocked again a little harder. Nothing.

"Let's just walk in." Konata suggested. Kagami knew it was impolite but she was actually worried given the circumstances. She opened the unlocked door and all at once a horrible stench befouled her causing her to stumble back and vomit over the side of the bridge.

"Are you okay Onee-chan?" Tsukasa asked worriedly and ran to her sister. Konata ignored them and prepared herself for whatever made Kagami puke like that, she approached the door way and could smell it too. It smelled like carrion. She plugged her nose and breathed with her fingers and entered the dark home. It was small with only two beds and a table as major furniture, the place eerily dark and musty. It looked like it had been abandoned weeks ago.

The route of the smell became obvious and Konata couldn't contain the contents of her stomach either. A man with salmon colored hair was on the bed next to a woman with long lime green hair. Both their throats had been brutally torn out by some kind of animal. Their bodies had just been sitting there rotting for the last few weeks, now insects were happily going at them. Konata batted the clouds of flies and stepped back out into the clean air.

"Jesus, it looks like wolves did this!" Kagami said trying hard to dry heave. What was worse was the fact that someone had crudely tried to force them into an embrace.

Tsukasa, being the brave one, approached them and examined the two her face turned ghost white and she faced the other two. "These are human teeth marks."


	10. Family Reunion

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 10- FAMILY REUNION**

Minami Iwasaki laid in her bed in a drugged haze. The stimpaks had done their magic quite effectively after some very painful surgery to get her dislocated arm and split bone back into place. To counter this pain she took a large dose of morphine and decided to sleep it off. Hopefully, Hiyori's dealing with Kuroi ended in less bloodshed. Oddly she couldn't bring herself to show any degree of care about that. Then again she was the very epitome of apathy. Her story began in a small pathetic settlement under the name of Big Town. Big Town had been founded as a place that children raised in another settlement called Little Lamplight would go when they reached adulthood. Big Town was the number one target for slavers and Super Mutants and anyone else who just felt like making someone else miserable.

Her parents were completely broke and couldn't afford to move to anywhere else, that was fine because everyone else there was too. When she was four years old her father ventured into the wastes with his own father, in hope of finding something he could bring back and sell so they could have a comfortable life. He met his unfortunate end when spending the night in an old structure called The Dunwich Building, the mercenaries with him informed the widowed Iwasaki about this and how he had disappeared without a trace. Minami was sure he was still out there somewhere.

At that point her mother had the hard decision of either trying to raise Minami alone in a town that was under attack almost daily from outside forces or let her grow up in Little Lamplight alone with the other children. Minami made the decision for her saying she would stay there and vow to make herself useful.

Only seven years old she was already on the night watch armed with a hunting rifle and a katana she inherited from her late father called _Vampire's Edge_. The stress that job left her nearly catatonic to the point where she would only answer questions asked directly to her and never speak besides that.

Her life took another turn when she was fourteen and slavers launched a massive raid on Big Town; it was during the day when she slept so she wasn't there for the initial attack. Minami's mother, who was out in the fields trying to farm something out of the savage irradiated mockery of an agriculture, was one of the first to be captured. Eventually she and the other able bodied fighters were able to drive them back. But four of their women, them along with her mother were dragged away.

It was at that point when Minami realized there was nothing left in Big Town for her, so she packed what little she owned and set out for the waste to possibly become a mercenary. However, most fourteen year old girls were seldom hired for jobs like that. So she became a scavenger, hunting through ruins looking for anything of value. One night when she was camping out with some other wastelanders something happened, she briefly remembered a struggle with something, she didn't know what that something was. Minami blacked out and when she woke up she found the three wasters dead with their throats torn out.

Over the years similar occurrences happened but still couldn't be explained, she would wake up with everyone around her dead. From this she became reluctant in dealing with people and spent almost all her time alone, people tended to die around her. It was one faithful day when a group of Enclave soldiers led by a woman under the name of Lieutenant Kuroi found a young green haired girl in ragged clothes standing over the body of a Deathclaw. She was holding a rusted katana and smothered in blood, none of which was her own. The Enclave was quick to add her to their ranks.

Minami tried her best to forget the Enclave and her time with it, her time with them only lasted about six months before an incident happened. She barely remembered it, the local General wanted to bitch at her company for something and they stood there being screamed at for someone's mistake when something curious caught her eye.

The Force Colonel who served as General Maynard's right hand man, with a green haired woman trudging reluctantly behind her. A mint-green haired woman that looked like an older version of her, who apparently was this mans pleasure slave.

As mentioned before she didn't remember the details, just the blurry image of her teeth gnashing through that's bastard's throat and some gunfire.

"Iwasaki we have visitors." A light female voice called, it sounded a million miles away. Minami rolled over and tried to ignore it, she felt like she had earned the right to sleep in. Just once.

"Leave her alone, she needs rest!" Another girl replied

"It's more people asking about Yutaka, ma'am, what should I tell them?" The other said, apparently ignoring Yutaka outright.

"Don't talk like I'm not here!" A frustrated Yutaka cried.

Minami slowly sat up and blinked sleep out her eyes. Yutaka had been caring for in her wounded state and was still at her bedside. The other person was one of the Family members, Celia, who was in charge in Minami's absence. Celia was a bit of an oddball but Minami liked her, she had been the first one to join the Family just after Minami had left then Enclave.

"Give me a moment to compose myself, I will meet them." She told them.

"What if they're here to hurt you too!?" Yutaka protested, up until a Kuroi's visit she had this image of Minami being an invisible warrior and for good reason. Now she was extremely concerned about her safety.

"Thank you but I'll be fine." Minami reassured her, she slipped out of bed and put on her leather duster and rolled back the sleeves. On her right arm was massive ragged scar across her elbow that had the texture of wound that had recently lost its scab.

"Stay here." She ordered and went to meet the visitors; Yutaka protested more but ultimately obeyed. She knew that Minami had her best interests in mind.

Minami entered the large living space and saw three girls surrounded by several Family members. One with obnoxiously long blue hair with a lock of it sticking up at an impossible angle, she was wearing a strange blue jumpsuit that was torn in dozens of places and dotted with dry blood. The two other girls were close enough in appearance to be twins, one had her lilac hair into two ponytails that ran parallel together, and she was wearing the same thing as the blue haired girl except hers was lightly fortified with various bits of garbage. The third girl had much shorter lilac hair and was wearing a yellow bandanna across her forehead, her attire was different. A loose white tank top and cargo shorts, Minami assumed she was a mercenary or something and the laser pistol and well used sword on her back punctuated her accusation further.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Minami asked them.

"Yeah I heard you kidnapped my cousin!" The blue haired one, with a curiously shaped mouth, accused.

"Excuse me?" She replied with acid dripping from her voice, the Family didn't kidnap anyone. She glanced around the other Family members for one that resembled her, Minami's eyes met Celia's who had rich deep purple hair which she had gone through great lengths to dye.

"Not my cousin!" Celia said, throwing her arms up in defense.

"Yutaka Kobayakawa, where is she?" The twin tailed girl demanded.

"You're not taking her back, she's one of us now and you can't help her!" Minami growled and rested her hand on _Sishkabob_.

"We're not here to fight you; Yutaka just needs to go home to her sister. We saw what happened to her parents." The blunette pleaded.

"Then you know full and well she can never see her sister again."

"What are you talking about?" The tiny girl, with the lips that almost formed a sideways three, yelled in frustration.

Minami's jaw dropped. "You…you don't know do you?"

"Know what!?" The three girls shouted in unison.

**A CHANGE OF POV**

"Should we tell her, boss?" The purple haired woman asked the green haired one. Konata was deeply afraid of whatever secret they were hiding, nothing good came from this level of secrecy.

"You can do it, I'm going to go visit Yutaka. She needs me now." The woman in charge answered and treaded off into the darkness. Konata went to follow her but was stopped by Kagami's gentle hand.

The purple haired woman nodded and saluted. "Okay Minami you got it." She looked at the three visitors for a second. "Hold on a second I have to go get my story enhancer." She told them and bounded off happily.

"I don't like this." Kagami said, the other gang members went away to do their own business but were keeping an eye on them from the shadows of this old subway station.

"Do you think they hurt her?" Konata asked worriedly, this "Minami's" strange conversation had definitely given her reason for superstition.

At that moment the other girl returned with a battered V styled electric guitar. "My explanation goes great with music. Oh yeah my names Celia Brown by the way." She told them enthusiastically and played a quick scale no one else could here beyond faint plucking of strings.

"Really liking this place so far." Kagami muttered sarcastically.

"No interrupting!" Celia shouted causing a few heads to turn. "Anyhoo's our story goes like this. Once upon a time a girl named Minami Iwasaki found out she suffered from hematophagy." As she was explaining she was playing some inaudible guitar solo which Konata thought must have sounded amazing if she had an amplifier to go with it, her fingers were moving a flurry, and her words were nearly lost on Konata due to her lack of focus.

Tsukasa was the first to speak up. "Isn't that when an animal eats another animal's blood?"

_How does she know that? _Kagami thought, out of nowhere Tsukasa was becoming a little encyclopedia.

"Correct you are," Celia answered and kept on playing her silent ballad, "except it only applies for her with human blood." The three girls grimaced noticeably. "She found me and others like us who suffer the same thing. It's a hunger we can't control and Minami started the Family so we weren't alone in this."

"What does this have to do with Yutaka though?" Kagami was the first to ask.

"Duh, she's one of us. You said you found her parents, what did you think killed them?" Celia smugly replied.

Konata felt her stomach churn from hearing that, apparently Minami didn't kidnap her exactly. "I need to go for a walk." She muttered and stumbled off back towards the subway tunnels that led there.

Kagami sprinted to catch up with her; Tsukasa stayed behind was still conversing with silent musician. "Konata come back, this is getting old you know!"

"Kagami she _killed and drank the blood of her parents_!" Konata yelled sounding almost hysteric. "She's a fucking psycho, let's go back and tell Yui-neesan that she's here and she can visit her own time."

"Konata…" Was all Kagami was able to reply with, she had never heard her small friend talk like that about anyone, especially another family member. "Let's just go back and sort this out."

Before she could reply Kagami picked her up and carried her back over her shoulder. "Oh but when I'm the one who does this, I'm the villain." Konata pouted.

"Exactly." Kagami smiled feeling a little bit evil. She dropped her back next to Tsukasa, Minami had returned with another nervous looking Family member who was shorter than Konata with shoulder length salmon colored hair.

"That's her." Minami said quietly and pointed at Konata.

The small little girl walked up to Konata and got a good look at her. Konata looked around nervously wondering if anyone else noticed the strange girl staring her down. "You're my cousin?" Yutaka asked excitedly. Konata stepped back in surprise; she was expecting her cousin to be some blue haired psychopath, not this adorable little girl dripping with moe. _Her shirt has a carrot on it man!_

"I guess so." She managed to smile in spite of herself. Further to her surprise Yutaka hugged her around the waist tightly.

"Yui-neesan is worried sick about you." Konata pointed out.

"I almost forgot about her," Yutaka admitted, "Before I met Minami she was the only one who knew about my…problem. I hope she isn't too worried."

"Oh she's just wondering why you can't chatted in awhile." Konata lied not wanting to worry the frail girl even more. It was pretty evident she had been through a lot. Still she couldn't help but remember that image of those two corpses shoved together into a crude embrace.

**FEAR THE CUTE ONES**

Minami had promised to take Yutaka to Megaton at their earliest convenience to meet her sister again. They let the three girls spend the night there and stayed up later than normal just talking and listening to Konata and Kagami's story.

Likewise Minami and Yutaka shared there's. One night, just over two months ago, Minami had been walking around in the cool air when she found this small girl sitting on the top of a shack, apparently a Deathclaw had wandered down south and trapped her up there. Minami quickly slew the demon and helped the frail girl down.

Minami escorted her home and her parents were a little less than welcoming, they had known about her and the Family and drove her away calling her names like "monster" and "demon" and "vampire". Nothing she wasn't used to. The next night she wandered down by the Brahmin pasture where the shack she saved Yutaka the previous night. Yutaka had shown up that night hoping to meet her new friend again. Their friendship went from there. It was by sheer luck that Yutaka's best friend was the leader of the Family when her bloodlust took over her that faithful night.

Later that night Konata found herself unable to sleep, to much had happened these last two weeks and it was weighing heavily on her mind.

"Kagami, you asleep?" She whispered and poked the tsundere several times on the cheek.

"I was…" Kagami muttered and sat up. "What is it?"

"I've been thinking, what are you going to do after I find my dad?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean after we find him it's either you hack the door and go back to Vault 101, or we help him finish Project Purity." Konata explained. Kagami mentally slapped herself; if she hacked it from the inside she could do the same from the outside as well. _Why hadn't Konata mentioned that earlier!? _

"I don't know." Kagami shrugged and tried to get comfortable again.

"If you want to go home I won't stop you." Konata told her, Kagami could detect a hint of sorrow in her voice.

"I told you I'll stay with you for however long it takes." Kagami sighed.

"For however long what takes?" Konata probed, trying to lure Kagami's deredere side out.

"You know what I mean!" Kagami growled and rolled over to try to end the conversation. Konata said nothing; she was pleased with the results of this conversation.

**THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE**

That night's events weren't completely over yet though. Several hours later the entire Family by a girl screaming and a dog barking.

"Tsukasa!?" Kagami instantly realized and sat up. She jumped off of the mildew covered mattress and sprinted to where Tsukasa had been sleeping.

"Cherry, down!" Minami, who made it there first, yelled at her massive white dog. The dog looked up and her from the body she was gnawing on. Tsukasa was in the corner whimpering.

"What happened?" Kagami asked, looking around at the scene. Apparently some nine foot tall misshapen intruder barged in and when through Tsukasa's things before Cherry went berserk and chewed its throat out.

Someone flicked on a lantern for a better view, and the scene in front of them shocked everyone.

The thing that lay half-bent on its side in a fetid pool of greenish-yellow ichors and tarry stickiness was almost nine feet tall, and the dog had torn off all the clothing and some of the skin.... It was partly human, beyond a doubt, with very manlike hands and head, and a goatish, chinless face. But the torso and lower parts of the body were teratologically fabulous, so that only generous clothing could ever have enabled it to walk on earth unchallenged or uneradicated.

Above the waist it was semi-anthropomorphic; though its chest...had the leathery, reticulated hide of a crocodile or alligator. The back was piebald with yellow and black, and dimly suggested the squamous covering of certain snakes. Below the waist, though, it was the worst; for here all human resemblance left off and sheer fantasy began. The skin was thickly covered with coarse black fur, and from the abdomen a score of long greenish-gray tentacles with red sucking mouths protruded limply.

Their arrangement was odd, and seemed to follow the symmetries of some cosmic geometry unknown to earth or the solar system. On each of the hips, deep set in a kind of pinkish, ciliated orbit was what seemed to be a rudimentary eye; whilst in lieu of a tail there depended a kind of trunk or feeler with purple annular markings, and with many evidences of being an undeveloped mouth or throat. The limbs, save for their black fur, roughly resembled the hind legs of prehistoric earth's giant saurian, and terminated in ridged-veined pads that were neither hooves nor claws.

"What…is…that?" Kagami choked, the smell coming from it was this indescribable stench from hell.

"Super Mutant?" Konata suggested while covering her own mouth from the assault of its stench.

"No...All Super Mutants are the same species, this is something…" Minami paused to cough and choke like everyone else. "…something new possibly. I've never seen or heard of anything like it. Tsukasa-san, what was it doing in your things?"

Tsukasa looked around guiltily. "I really don't know, I don't know what I would have that it could want." Without asking for her consent, Kagami and Minami dumped the rest of the contents of her messenger back on the concrete floor under the light. Two random hardcover books, several vials of random liquids that only Tsukasa could identify, some energy cell batteries, a pouch with a several hundred bottle caps in it, and one particularly interesting item…

"Where did you get this?" Minami gasped holding up the dreaded _Necronomicon. _

"I got it from some swamp mutants at a place called Point Lookout, I was supposed get rid of it at some place called the Dunwich Building." Tsukasa, being unable to lie, answered. Minami just stared at her; no words were able to form on her tongue. Some human-chimera-demon bastard child had invaded her home because this girl was in possession of this horrible book written by some insane Arabian prophet.

"You will leave tomorrow and destroy that thing." Minami said sternly, pointing at the black leather-bound book. "You don't want to know what would happen if that fell into the wrong hands." She didn't know much of the details about book itself except tragedy befell almost all who possessed it. Much worse happened to those who read its secrets. She also felt it odd that a book written and bound centuries before the bombs dropped could still be in existence and in such marvelous condition. Not to mention in the damp humidity of Point Lookout. Minami wasn't very superstitious but she could _feel _evil radiating from it.

Tsukasa's eyes filled with tears as tried to reply. "Oh… I'm sorry I didn't mean to endanger you all. I'll leave tomorrow then…"

"With us of course." Kagami added. "We were going to leave out and find Vault 112 anyways."

**CROSSROADS**

Konata woke up around 10 AM, later than she had expected, and quickly got her things together.

Down in the commons Tsukasa was lounged across a couch reading something and Kagami was apparently…_working out_? She had borrowed someones athletic clothes and was busy punching away at a stationary punching bag rooted to the ground. As she approached she got a better look at her longtime friend. Since they arrived in the wasteland Kagami's muscles had become much more developed in a short time, Konata had seen her doing pushups and running on a treadmill in the vault, but now that she was out here putting her skills to the test, her strength had really flourished. Konata had also spotted Kagami doing pushups and situps several nights here in the wastes. It was really paying off and Konata didn't exactly hate the way she looked now.

"Looking good Kagamin~" Konata whistled, Kagami turned around quickly with a deep red blush on her face. She quickly regained her composure though.

"As you may have noticed, the wasteland is pretty unforgiving. So if anything happens that can't be fixed with a weapon or brains I want to be ready." She replied calmly.

"I didn't say anything." Konata said rolling her eyes. Just like Kagami to take everything as an attack, she wasn't lying when she had complimented her.

Kagami slipped out of view and changed back into her armored jumpsuit and gathered her things. "You ready Tsukasa?" she asked and poked at her sister who was fast asleep.

They said their good byes and Konata promised to visit again when she got the chance. She really hoped there would be another chance. They began their journey south under the scorching sun, that day was particularly hot and muggy. To make matters worse, there was next to know shade for them to take shelter under.

"Tsukasa?" Kagami spoke after and hour of silence on the road. Not actually a road, but they knew the general direction since Sojiro had left some details on finding Vault 112. However…

"Do you even know where this Dunwich place is?" She said after Tsukasa looked at her in acknowledgement.

"I…uh…I know it's really far southwest. Like the only building in that area." Tsukasa admitted, Kagami said nothing and messed with her Pip-Boy, trying to find a building like that in that section of the Capital Wastes for her to trace a route to.

After an hour of frustrating labor she finally found what she believed to be her and Tsukasa's definition. Konata's stop was along the way luckily. As always, the journey was uneventful, from what they had heard from people you were in danger when you headed north past the Potomac or into the DC ruins. Everywhere else was relatively death-free if you were careful enough. Which the three girls were. After following the vague directions using landmarks Sojiro left behind, they came to a dilapidated auto shop called "Smith Casey's Garage". Konata opened the door and noticed that the Hiiragi twins were waiting towards the ancient gas pumps.

"You guys coming or what?" Konata asked and gestured them over.

"Sorry but we have our own job to do." Kagami told her with a bit of a forced smile.

"Good luck finding your dad though Kona-chan!" Tsukasa added. Konata looked at them and thanked whatever deity or Old One was watching her for providing the best friends and companions she could have asked for. She sprinted over and embraced both of them with her tiny arms.

"You two are the best friends I could have ever hoped for." Konata swore to them, "I couldn't have gotten here without you two, especially you Kagami. I don't know how you manage to be good at everything, but I don't know where I would have been without you."

"Not to mention without Tsukasa both us probably would be dead." Kagami modestly added, trying to include the younger twin.

"I did help didn't I?" Tsukasa said, blushing.

Konata let the two of them go and turned to face the ruined building. "You two make sure not to die okay?"

**SEPARATED **

My next two chapters will be written in first person perspective of Kagami and Konata in their separation. Both will be considered chapter 11 since their events run parallel.

I probably should have included Yutaka more in this chapter considering how much of a back story Minami got. All there is to say about Yutaka's past that wasn't said is she was born in Arefu, lived there all her life and occasionally would get these cannibalistic urges. When these happened Yui would hold her until they went away. When Yui moved the urges seemed to go away until one bloody night.

I take no credit for the description of the thing that tried to steal the _Necronomicon _since that was taken directly from H.P. Lovecrafts "The Dunwich Horror".

Following my pointless tradition of assigning a song. _The Running Free _by _Coheed And Cambria, _standard metaphorical lyrics that could be bent to fit this.


	11. The Statement of Kagami Hiiragi

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 11 A- THE STATEMENT OF KAGAMI HIIRAGI**

**NARRATED IN FIRST PERSON**

The sun was beginning to set when Tsukasa and I left Smith Casey's Garage and headed southwest. I hate the dark; it's when the scorpions come out, really big ones who don't have any real vital points to shoot them at. I don't know how energy weapons would fare against them, but I don't want to find out. Night fell on us pretty fast, faster than I thought it would. It was like one moment it was twilight then BAM we're stumbling around the dark, luckily our Pip-Boys could give off a bit of light. I never actually found out how those things ran indefinitely, they're too small for a fission generator; whatever I'll figure that out some other day.

I grabbed for Tsukasa's hand and held it tight; I didn't want her wandering out of sight in the dark.

"Maybe we should find a place to camp out here tonight." I suggested, since she was looking tired.

"But we don't have a tent or a sleeping bag or anything." She replied matter-of-factly. True, sleeping on a dilapidated mattress and the dirt were two very different things. Not to mention the things that could wander up during the night and find us for a snack, oh yeah, and the thing that was particularly interested in Tsukasa's weird book came to mind.

"You're right." I shrugged and kept walking. I stole glances at her occasionally, I don't know how she did it but her skin was just a smooth and clean as it was the day we left. No dirt or dust or even a sunburn, I for one, was not looking particularly pretty since it had been two weeks since I last bathed.

I noticed my sister kept just staring at her feet and was uncannily silent. Normally she would be going on about how she learned how to make white phosphorus out of paint and gasoline or something, but she was completely quiet.

"Hey, are you feeling alright?" I asked.

I think I startled her or something, because she jumped a little, "Me? Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just thinking is all." She replied quietly, naturally I didn't believe her.

"Thinking about what?" I probed deeper.

"Nothing in particular." She sighed. Damn it, her drooping, sad face was killing me.

"I doubt that." I replied, I certainly wasn't going to say that last part out loud.

Tsukasa looked me in the eyes, took a deep breath and spoke. "It's just; I'm really worried about everyone back in Vault 101. The security team was shooting at us and I'm afraid they could have shot at more people."

"If they killed Butch and his little gang, then I can assure you that nothing of value was lost." I said, trying to lift the mood.

"What about Miyuki and the rest of our family?" Tsukasa asked, I could see tears forming in the edge of her eyes.

"Well, Miyuki is the overseer's daughter and I don't think Yukari would it let it slide if anything happened to her and everyone knows that." I reassured her and wiped the tears out her eyes, I hadn't done that since she came into my room after a nightmare when she was 14 years old. "Don't worry about our family, Mom and Dad are the softest spoken people in Vault. I can't imagine Inori or Matsuri getting into any trouble either."

"Actually I can imagine Matsuri getting into trouble." Tsukasa said with a giggle despite everything. "Thanks for telling me that onee-chan, I wish I was as brave as you are." She hugged me tight after that. Brave huh? No I'm not brave I just don't focus on things that scare me, which is a lot of things mind you. For instance, being the big sister of an airhead who tends to wander to other states without warning, and pick up ancient magical tomes from hell.

Konata is the one I don't have to watch out for as much, at least she's capable. It sucks knowing that at some point I'm going to have to choose to either go back to the vault or stay out here with her and her dad and possibly work on Project Something-or-other. I hate choices like that; eventually I have either have to choose safety or friendship…

To pull me out of my rough thoughts was a looming, extremely out of place, office building. It blended so well into the dark that we barely noticed it until we were crossing the old parking lot. When we approached the front doors I was pretty much instantly demoralized by the smell coming out of this place, it was just like the one from that monster back with the Family except not nearly as strong.

"Ready Tsukasa?" I asked. She squeezed my hand and nodded, trying to look brave.

We pushed through the automatic doors which had long since stopped working. Inside there was a hallway with lots of rooms branching off of it, there was this creepy mist hovering the entire place. In the lobby we were in I could see remains of campfires along with several skeletons. Not a warm welcome, not a warm welcome at all.

"Where do we go from here?" I asked, my voice came out as whisper.

Tsukasa thought for a moment, I didn't think she was used to be being the one leading. "Uh, I think the place where we destroy it is in the basement."

In the basement, of course it was in the fucking basement, I mean where else would it be? Okay so I'll admit I was terrified of this place, I'd gone through a super market while playing manhunt with raiders, I'd nearly fallen to my death because I was to fat to do even one pull up, I've wandered through the Jefferson Memorial around plenty of bodies but something about this place scared me more than all of that. Actually almost dying was scarier, but still.

I was the first to start moving, Tsukasa seemed rooted to the ground so I had to tug at her to get her to move. Still she was reluctant to leave her spot. "I know this place is the paragon of creepy but let's just get this over with." I told her.

She shook her head and whimpered. "I heard a noise."

I forced a laugh, "It's a crumbling building, there's bound to be noise." Then I heard a faint hiss from deeper in the building, actually it sounded more like around one of the many corners.

"There it is again!" Tsukasa cried and balled up on the ground. It was time for me to play brave big sister and figure this out. I looked around one corner into a large room where the ceiling had caved in, nothing. I checked the next corridor that led to a flight of stairs, nothing. I checked around the last corridor, nothing again.

As I was turning around to go back and tell my lil' sis that the coast was clear, something jumped me. It was like some freaky zombie monster and it pinned me down and began an onslaught of clawing at my body. I pushed my arms up and grabbed the thing by the neck; it was human enough and reacted like a normal person would while being choked. It reluctantly stopped thrashing which gave me the chance to toss it off. Its frail bony body hit the wall and dropped, I knew it wasn't dead so I managed to get my self up and brought my boot down on its skull.

Tsukasa sprinted up and barraged me with a flurry of "are you okay?"s and "what happened?"s. For the most part I ignored her and fell against the wall trying to catch my breath. The thing that had attacked me was ghoul, radiation had taken this poor things skin, hair, and mind away leaving a zombie-like shell. I felt like an idiot for not having my laser rifle ready.

My sister glared at me curiously like she was amazed by something, I assumed she was looking at all the cuts and scratches the ghoul had left on my chest. All of them were light and I think maybe two of them were actually bleeding, nothing to worry about. Then I realized that she could see all those scratches perfectly since the ghoul had shredded all the fabric away from my chest exposing my bosom to the world.

Even though Tsukasa had seen me without clothes plenty of times I still blushed. I covered my self and turned away, there had to be some way to fix this… Ah ha! With some effort I tore off the legs of my jumpsuit below my knees and tied them around my chest forming a crude but effective toga. Why is it the one day morning I don't bother wearing a bra is the one morning I get dragged out into the wasteland?

"Let's just keep going." I growled and stomped off, and then I realized I had no idea where I was going so I turned around back to Tsukasa. For some reason she had an expression that hinted at disappointment. Was she staring at my… No I'm not going to even think about that.

The two of us scouted out the rest of the ground floor and couldn't find any serviceable way to the basement. A lot of ways were blocked off by debris.

"Maybe there's a way to the other parts of the building upstairs." Tsukasa suggested. Once again she was the one to point out the obvious thing I looked over.

"Better than nothing I suppose." I supposed.

We trudged up the debris strewn stairs to next level, this floor didn't have the open floors like the previous one did, and we got lost a few times in the narrow office rooms and hallways. There were a few more ghouls on this floor, but I was ready this time and they burned like paper from my new toy. Yeah, yeah, I know referring to a military grade weapon as a toy is something a sociopath would say.

This building was a lot bigger inside than it looked from outside and the darkness was overwhelming sometimes. Certain halls would be completely pitch black and have that strange smell, and sometimes there would be this strange slime all over the walls and floor and I had to pretty much drag Tsukasa through there to keep her from tripping.

Instead of stairs we found something else, a massive room where the ceiling had collapsed through the floor and all the way down to several floors below. This chamber was a lot brighter than the others which isn't saying much since we couldn't see the bottom. The remains of the old floors were almost intact and could probably be used as stepping stones if we wanted to go down there. The problem is we didn't know if there was real way up from down there. Starving to death in a place like this didn't sit well with me.

Just before I was about to say something to Tsukasa I was interrupted by a cold and twisted sound. Like something from those depths groaned in anger, it was completely unlike anything I had ever heard. It had the bass like qualities of a whale just more…demonic. Needless to say at that point I was scared to the point of tears.

I don't remember the course of events that happened after that perfectly, it was a blur. I sprinted back down the halls that I came from. When I felt like I was far enough away, I fell against the wall and tried to catch my breath. I instantly realized I was alone.

My terror redoubled when I realized Tsukasa wasn't with me. I ran back to the pit to see if, for some reason, she was there still. Nothing, at this point I was panicking I knew I was openly crying but I didn't care.

I looked down into the pit and screamed Tsukasa's name. No answer, now I was worried she had fallen down there and hurt herself. I checked my Pip-Boy to find out where she was, and of course, my connection to her own Pip-Boy was gone. This thing had a range of hundreds of miles and it just gave me a little smiley face that said, "Signal Cannot Be Found." Even she was dead I would still have a signal.

Well she couldn't have just disappeared out of existence, and the only way she could have gone was down. So reluctantly I slid over the edge to a platform below, it shuttered from my weight but was kept in tact. I jumped down to another one from there, and then another. The drop to the bottom from there was just over ten feet. I hit the ground rolling and managed to not break anything, so that was good.

So here I was, at the bottom of some pit, which according to my Pip-Boy, was irradiating me slightly. The only way to go from here was a metal door; I noticed something at the base of it.

A black leather bound book lying open. It was the one we were supposed destroy somehow, I hadn't really thought of how that was possible in the first place. Some magic ritual? No, that was ludicrous. Still, I grabbed it and fitted it into my bag, and went through the door.

When I went through the door I felt a flash of pain and I got this strange vision of a cubicle farm with a well dressed man walking towards me. It went as quickly as it came and I saw, instead, a completely ruined room piled with debris and a ghoul that was now sprinting at me.

I had come through the door with my laser rifle, so I was prepared at least. The thing dissolved into ash after taking four shots to the chest, I mentally noted that my microfusion battery was running low and would need to be replaced when I got out of this. _If _I got out of this, it was funny thinking that since I had been much calmer in darker situations, but I was still terrified. Not to mention I had to find Tsukasa.

There were a few more ghouls here which I promptly disposed of, by sheer luck, I found a room that felt like a larger version on an elevator shaft with metal stairs leading downwards into the dark. I was under the impression that Tsukasa may have gone ahead without me, and I wouldn't be so far off the mark to assume she had dropped the book when she descended down. Still, what the hell was that noise?

At the bottom of the stairs, as if to mock me, was a Vault-Tec limited edition bobble-head, the little guy was holding a sledgehammer. I picked up and read the base, "Never be afraid to do business up close and personal." Was Vault-Tec condoning murder by hammer? Honestly it didn't really surprise me, my new motto from now on was "Never underestimate the carelessness, outrageousness, or flat out obnoxiousness of people." Konata and Yui were perfect examples of this. Why was I thinking of Konata at that moment there? I hoped she was faring better than I was. What I wouldn't give to be back in the Vault with her sitting around listening to some prewar album she dug up. Who was I kidding, I just wanted her next me regardless. She was my partner out here and I know this would all be somehow easier with her next to me. Anyone next to me for that matter, I'd only been alone for twenty minutes and I felt like the last person on earth.

Behind the metal stairs there was a door which I presumed led deeper to my destination. I pushed it open and went down another short hallway, disintegrated a ghoul, and pushed through another door.

Now I was in a cave, metal stairs led down deeper into the darkness and if this wasn't the place that I was supposed to go then I was making a grave mistake. In fact this whole thing was a grave mistake on my part.

More ghouls charged up the stairs at me in a straight line, and were quickly dispatched one by one. In my cynicism, I felt like killing these guys was turning into a chore. I imagined my mother's voice for a moment, "_Kagami, today I need you to pick up dinner, bring Tsukasa her lunch, take out the trash, and kill half a dozen ghouls_."

I followed the stairs to the bottom of the cavern; I was in a decent sized chamber. The walls were lined with skulls and hieroglyphics, in the center there was a strange sculpture that's shape seemed completely random. Bits of jewelry and rotting food were at its base like some sort of sacrifice, it didn't surprise me that the ghouls worshiped it.

Speaking of ghouls one was still left, this one actually had clothes still on. Leather armor with a Chinese assault rifle on his back. He didn't seem to notice me thankfully.

"Hey!" I called, trying to get his attention; I had my laser rifle aimed at him if he attacked me.

He glared up at me and spoke in a raspy inhuman voice. "Sharp knife. Sharp knife to send him to deep temple. Flay and say my words. Abdul comes again, on the feast of the weaker. Feast for the Deep Temple. Born again, here. Alhazzared G'yeth G'yeth."

So he wasn't dangerous, just insane. His insane ranting didn't stop there. "Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread."

I couldn't take it; his words were scaring me even more now. I don't why I did it; I fired several shots and killed him. I don't know if that was a good idea or not but I had to stop him from talking, it felt like he was literally sucking the sanity out of soul.

Now I was alone in this virulent under chamber, I noticed for the first time that on the far side of the room there was a massive solid black pit. I took out the _Necronomicon, _it looked like throwing it into this apparent abyss seemed to be the correct thing to do. I mean if it didn't destroy it, it would just be inaccessible, which in my eyes was good enough. I didn't want anything to do with this book or this place anymore.

Apparently throwing the book down there was the wrong answer because when I approached the pit I felt instantly nauseous and I stumbled back away from it. My nausea overcame me and vomited, it was forceful and almost violent. I realized in horror that I had mostly vomited blood; also my nose was bleeding in frothy red torrent. To make things even worse I could feel my self bleeding from my nether regions as well, even though that wasn't due for another two weeks. My first guess was that this was a massive radiation pocket since hemorrhaging like this could be explained by radiation, I checked my Pip-Boy and I felt even more worried when I found out that my Rad count was still 125, just what it had been when I entered the room. Not to mention the vital scanners didn't show any blood loss or internal injuries.

I tried hard to ignore the coppery taste in my mouth and dampness near my crotch, and forget about this all. I looked around for anyway to "destroy" the book, nothing stood out besides the strange altar thing. I placed the book on it next to several other items, it was worth a shot.

At that point everything that I had known about reality pretty much died right then and there when book ignited into flames and burned away in seconds. Before I could feel proud of my efforts the entire cave shook violently. I heard that awful groaning noise again and it sounded like it was coming from the pit.

I instantly sprinted the other way and back up the stairs I had come down, when I heard some thing very large following me I think soiled myself, but I actually can't remember and choose not to. Something very large indeed, every couple of seconds I would hear a large _BANG _followed by the sound of something wet and slimy being dragged, sort of like a wet towel on tile floor. Just one thousand fold.

I ran up the other stairs and back into the rest of building, no matter where I went that sound was still following me, every time I heard it I would cry a little harder. This was stupid, the whole wasteland was stupid, Tsukasa was stupid for taking that stupid book, Konata was stupid for dragging us out here, and I was stupid for not being able to come up with another adjective besides stupid.

I became delirious as I ran down pitch black halls and passages. The sound kept following me no matter where I went, for being so large it wasn't hindered by the narrow halls at all. I could have sworn I heard people talking behind thin walls, I couldn't understand them. When I first came into the building in my retreat I had a vague idea of where I was going. Now I was completely lost, I kept going through closed doors and still the thing was advancing on me The Dunwich Building wasn't an office building, it was the Gorgons Maze and I was going to die here.

I ran down a straight hallway with a single door on the other end. When I reached the door I found out that it was locked, the sound was still following me and sounded like it was right around the corner. I had encountered locked doors like this before and usually I could kick them in, this one was particularly hardy.

I didn't dare look behind me, I could hear something dragging itself down the narrow hall, and I pleaded to any god that heard me, to make this door open. I think after my fortieth kick it finally burst open. It was too late; I could feel my self sliding back by some unknown force. I think this was the first time in my life I was glad to faint.

**DEAD…MAYBE? NOT REALLY?**

When I awoke my first thought was, "Hey I'm not dead!" Then confusion followed that. I looked up and realized I was in that first hallway the ghoul had ambushed me in. I stood up and realized with some degree of modesty that the makeshift sash around my chest had come undone and was my feet somewhere.

"Onee-chan are you alright?" A familiar voice from behind me asked. I turned around to see Tsukasa standing there like she had been. Apparently reading the confusion on my face she answered my silent question. "You were tying something around your chest and you just fainted."

"None of that was real?" I blurted out.

"What wasn't real?" Tsukasa asked, I realized I must be really confusing her.

"Where's the book!" I said, ignoring her question; I needed to know where it was.

Tsukasa looked through her bag then gave me a worried look. "I must have lost it, it's not here anymore. All that's in here is my normal stuff and…" She grabbed a handful of something then gave me another puzzled look. "Ashes." In her hands was a pile of black dust.

My heart sunk, I spat into my hand and it came out a dull bloody orange. Without any shame, I shoved my hand into my pants and felt the inside of my thighs. My hand came back with a small smear of blood around my index finger, it had barely started to dry.

Tsukasa gave me a disgusted look, "Kagami that's totally gross, don't do that in front of me!" I blushed instantly. I was more scared than embarrassed though; also around my ankle was smear of a black tarry substance.

I grabbed Tsukasa's wrist and pulled her out the door of the cursed Dunwich Building.

"What about the book?" Tsukasa asked, I felt bad for her; she must have been at a new level of confusion from my antics.

In spite of myself, I laughed, "What book?"

I never found out what had happened in the Dunwich Building, I never told anyone the story. Not Konata, not Tsukasa, not anyone. The human mind is a powerful thing and I could have very well imagined the whole thing, I will say, without a doubt, that it was the most terrifying and confusing thing to ever happen to me. I had nightmares about it for years afterwards.

It didn't matter now, we were tired but I decided it was best to go back and see how Konata was faring, partially because I was afraid to try and sleep. I missed her immensely even if we were only gone a few hours. I needed her silliness and jokes about everything or I thought I'd go insane. She didn't know how lucky she was that her sojourn from us hadn't been insanity inducing.

**NOW ON TO KONATA…**

Song of inspiration- _The Thing That Should Not Be _by _Metallica_


	12. The Tranquility of Konata Izumi

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 11B- THE TRANQUILITY OF KONATA IZUMI**

So my little Kagamin was a full grown woman and didn't need me anymore, I guess this is how the mutated mother bird feels when its mutated baby birds leave the nest. Oh yeah, and Tsukasa went with her too. I'm actually not worried about Tsukasa; she seems to be able to handle herself better than anyone else. I mean come on she's freaking Tsukasa! The one who nearly killed us all in Vault numerous times because she would cause things to explode.

Where was I…Oh yeah I went inside the Smith McPerson's Garage and scouted the place out. I found a still-good Nuka Cola Quantum so that was pretty lucky. No sign of any Vault though.

When all hope seemed lost, and I was ready to commit Seppuku with a socket wrench, I leaned against a switch hidden by dust and cobwebs, and opened up part of the floor. Stairs were leading further down this hidden passage; I grabbed my socket wrench and went down.

I was kinda disappointed since I wanted find out if you could disembowel someone with a blunt object. Luckily there was a stray mole rat that had dug his little way down there. Turns out you can in fact disembowel someone with a wrench, it's just really not worth the effort and mess in the end.

The room down here was pretty bland, nothing cool to loot. I passed through an automated door into a cave and about ten meters away was a pretty familiar sight.

A massive cog shaped door with "112" printed on it. I hopped over to the little terminal on the side, and once again, luck was on my side and the password was already put it. So I just hit enter and opened the door.

Like the 101 door it was loud, I mean really, really loud. Like I had to cover-my-ears-and-scream-with-my-mouth-closed loud, because that's what you do when things are loud.

After it was done being loud and opening I slipped inside. Man Vault 101 was pretty dark but this place seemed four times as dark, even with the lights on. Okay so this vault still had people in it, where were they though? I didn't like the way the place came off to me, no sign of my dad or anyone else for that matter.

A robotic voice came at me from behind and gave me a pretty good scare, "Greetings Subject Name Unavailable, I regret to inform you that you are 202.3 years behind schedule." It was vaguely feminine.

I turned around and saw a robot that looked like a trashcan on treads with a glass done with a brain inside it for a head. I remembered these guys, Robobrains, either Kagami or Miyuki told me about them once. It was probably Kagami since Miyuki only gave out random facts when asked. Kagami liked to brag about what she had learned, so did Tsukasa. I guess they had some thing in common after all.

It rolled up and presented me with a folded Vault 112 jumpsuit. "Please don your appointed jumpsuit and enter your tranquility lounger." I didn't know what that meant, but I wasn't going to pass up a free jumpsuit since my mine was full of holes.

I should have known that it didn't come in my size and was way too big; it was more suited for Miyuki's curvy curves. I'm adaptable though.

The Robobrain led me into a large circular room with these strange pod things that were thoroughly creepy. A quick inspection told me that they were called "Tranquility Loungers". I found one that was open climbed in. Okay in hindsight I don't know why I did this, it was like some strange uncontrollable force was pushing me onward, and I wanted to see what would happen when I pushed the start button.

When I hit the button a glass dome closed in around the Lounger, I felt a quick shock on my Pip-Boy and my vision went white.

**STRANGER THAN FICTION**

I woke up after passing out from the shock in some weird neighborhood. Now I've woken up in some strange places before but this place had to be the strangest, mostly because it was in back and white. Completely gray-scale, I was hoping that it was my environment and not my eyesight.

"Hey little miss, I heard Betty's looking for you. I think she's at the playground." An abnormally tall man in a flannel shirt told me. Before I could respond he just walked off. They guy must have been at least 8 feet tall, I'm used to people being tall but wow.

Besides being black and, white there were a few other things wrong with this neighborhood, the most outstanding thing was probably that it looked…Not destroyed. All the houses in this round little cul-de-sac were all in one piece, grass was growing and I couldn't smell ashes or a chemical fire at all.

When I began walking towards the part in the central part of cul-de-sac I noticed something else was off as well. Nothing was brushing up behind my legs; I traced my hair from my head down to where it ended. I felt like I was about to cry when I felt my hair end just past my shoulder blades. My hair hadn't been that short since I was ten!

Wait a second…Short hair, me being even shorter, that man being really tall. Apparently in this strange world I was in the ten year old version of myself. Great, now I was _even shorter_.

It was time to find some answers. I headed over to the park were a German Shepard trotted over and began licking my face; I pushed the pooch away since I didn't particularly like dogs. The mutt trotted off and whined loudly but I just ignored it. Now I know I'm not the smartest person in the world but I knew that I was in some sort of simulation, I also knew that every simulation was like a video game, and there was always some way to beat games.

I noticed that, sitting on the swing set, in this small little park was a little girl in a sundress. Presumably Betty. She hopped off the swing set when she noticed me and skipped over.

"Hi, I'm Betty, you must be new here!" She cheerfully greeted me. Alright, I'd play along.

"Yeah, I'm new here." I said smiling, "I'm looking for my dad, have you seen him around? Middle aged guy, blue, err I mean darkish gray hair." I remembered that everything was black and white here.

"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't," She shrugged indifferently, "it's so boring here, maybe if you played a game with me I'd remember." So it was just like a game. All I had to do was complete these little side quests and I would find my way out.

"Okay I'll play with you, what do want to do?" I asked, trying to sound as cheerful as possible without sounding desperate.

"Simple, just make little Timmy over there cry!" She instructed and pointed at a little kid who had a lemonade stand going.

"Easy." I told her and walked over to Timmy. Making people cry was easy, let's see I could make Miyuki cry by telling people that I "heard" that no else in the vault liked her and were just pretending to be polite because she was the overseer's daughter (I still feel bad about that.) Tsukasa cried if you scared her or insulted her cooking, Kagami had a heart as hard as stone and couldn't cry if she wanted to, but was easy to annoy. The point is- I have experience in this field.

"Can I get a glass of lemonade?" I asked and used my impish cat grin against him.

"Why sure miss." Timmy replied with a wide smile. When he reached to pick up the glass pitcher I made my move.

"No that's fine, I can poor it myself." I assured am and yanked it of his hand, as an added bonus I spilled some on his shirt. I held it over my cup and let it drop onto the pavement below, shattering it into a million pieces.

"Oh no!" He yelled and got up to look at the mess. As he came around the stand, I stuck my foot out and he obliviously tripped over it and fell onto the pavement and managed to skin his elbow against the glass on the road.

"How can this day get any worse!?" He cried out. No tears yet, but I had some more tricks up my sleeves.

"Well I heard your parents are getting divorced." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"What, really!?"

"Yeah, it's because your failure to run a good lemonade stand is ruining their marriage. What I'm really getting at is that it's your entire fault. You're also getting sent to military school." I lied. If this was real I would almost feel bad when he got up and ran away screaming and crying. Mission accomplished.

"Wow you did a great job!" Betty complimented, I bowed to my adoring fan.

"So can you tell me where my dad is now?" I excitedly asked, even if this was sort of fun I was really getting sick of doing every ones bidding to get what I want.

Her voice changed from adorable little girl to creepy old German guy, "Oh what's with all of you? Nobody ever wants to stay and have a bit of fun. At least you're more agreeable than your father was."

"Where is he?" I demanded, I knew this whole thing was a trick, and now that voice was seriously freaking me out.

"Oh don't worry he's perfectly fine…" His voice changed back to little girl at that point, "Just stay a little longer and play with me and you and him can leave."

I thought it over for a few seconds. "Deal."

"Great!" He/she cheered. "For our next game I need you to break up the Rockwell's marriage, it's so perfect and happy that it makes me sick. Oh yeah and you can't kill either of them."

"Easy." I said, even though I wasn't sure how I was going to go about doing this. I found the Rockwell's place pretty easily out of the five or six house that were here. Well, I thought it was the Rockwell's place it actually belonged to some other people who were apparently not home. Since this was all a simulation, and I couldn't actually die or suffer real life consequences here, I decided to check the place out. For the most part it was devoid of anything but furnishings, strike that, on the bed upstairs was a folded up skimpy nightgown. I couldn't deny that I wouldn't mind seeing Kagami in that.

My diabolical mind hatched a plan then and there, I tossed it over my shoulder and went and found the Rockwell's home. I slipped in undetected from the front door and heard them talking in the kitchen, a label on the basement door informed me that this was the way to Mr. Rockwell's basement. I opened the door and went down there; it mostly looked like a woodshop with a moderately clean desk in the corner.

My diabolical mind hatched a plan then and there, I tossed it over my shoulder and went and found the Rockwell's home. I slipped in undetected from the front door and heard them talking in the kitchen, a label on the basement door informed me that this was the way to Mr. Rockwell's basement. I opened the door and went down there; it mostly looked like a woodshop with a moderately clean desk in the corner.

"Mrs. Rockwell!" I called out loudly.

"What, what is it?" She asked, strangely not wondering what a ten year old girl was doing in her home. The developers left out that little detail I guess.

"You better go look downstairs ma'am." I suggested.

"Why were you in my basement?" Mrs. Rockwell asked. _Crap, _I should have been more discreet.

"That's not important, just follow me!" I instructed and led her downstairs. When we were down there I pointed proudly at the crumpled up nightgown on his desk.

She looked at in horror, "That's not mine, where did he get that!?"

"I dunno maybe he likes wearing women's clothing." I suggested and sneakily crept out of the house leaving those two to sort it out among themselves. When I got outside I could hear her screaming at him from the inside. Mission complete.

"Ah, you have yet to disappoint me." Betty said, obviously impressed by my work. That's me, Konata Izumi Totally Tactical Espionage Master, or KITTEM. Now all I had to was find a world that meant the same thing as "master" but started with an "N"

"Anything else?" I asked not bothering to hide my irritated-ness. This place was really starting to suck.

"Just one more thing." Betty said in the creepy old guy voice. "I need you to kill Old Lady Henderson, oh mind that you cannot just simply beat her to death as that's boring. Be creative about it and have fun."

"S-sure." I replied feeling a little uneasy about this one. Still, it was just a game despite how realistic it seemed.

It didn't take long to find her house, with my elite stealth skills I found out that she was reading a book upstairs which gave me time to plan this out. I went down stairs and scoped the place out for anything that would be of value for my impending murder. In a cabinet downstairs I found a set of those old style roller blades that were attached on the bottom of people's shoes.

If this was like the dozens of cartoons I'd seen then this would be easy. I silently crept up the stairs and placed them both at the top. "Picture complete."

"Ms. Henderson!" I screamed from downstairs, I did my best to make my scream sound hysteric. Naturally she came running down to see what was up.

As luck would have it, she slipped on one of the roller skates. _Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. _

I grimaced at the scene, simulation or not that had been pretty gruesome. Honestly, I didn't have the stomach for this anymore. If Kagami were here she probably find some more creative ways to kill someone, actually she'd probably find another way out with her technological knowledge.

My thoughts kept going back to Kagami as I was walking back to the park. By my guess, I would be with my dad again within the hour, and then Kagami could either try to go home or stay with us. I know she hates the wastes and it's probably been the hardest on her so far, (unless Tsukasa went through some unspeakable torment at Point Lookout…) the thing is without her I wouldn't really want to go on anymore wasteland adventures. I know it's childish to call this an adventure but that's what this is, creeping through ancient tunnels and fighting off mutants and raiders feels like something from a movie and Kagami where I are the two protagonists. Without her it's not the same, even though we'd probably be stuck working on Project Purity, we could still have some fun. Not to mention Kagami's super productive nature would take over and she would probably end up doing all the work for us.

"That was a lot shorter than expected." The man version of Betty said, looking just a bit disappointed.

I pulled a decisive victory pose, "I'm good at what I do."

"Is that so?" Betty/Creepy old guy said, not looking impressed. "Well then, let's test that out."

I instantly regretted saying anything, "What do I have to do now?" I groaned, I should have known that it wasn't about to end.

"Kill everyone."

"What?" I wasn't expecting him/her to be THAT blunt. It didn't make for a very interesting game.

"You are to become a local legend. The Pintsized Slasher, you'll find everything you need in a doghouse in behind the abandoned house over there." He/she instructed and pointed at a seemingly inconspicuous house.

Even if this was a videogame, it was realistic enough that it kind of unnerved me. Whatever, after this there wouldn't be anymore people's lives to ruin here so I guess this was the end of the simulation.

As promised was a wickedly sharp butcher knife and as an added bonus there was this ridiculous oversized clown mask that fitted around my entire head.

Like any free roam game, the people started freaking out when jabbed the knife into to a woman's wrist. I wondered how Tsukasa and Kagami were doing; they had it easy, just walking into a building and out. Oh, maybe with a few ghouls thrown in just to make them exercise a little. I still was a little worried though, especially after that wicked scary nightmare I had, now I really wanted to see Kagami again and make sure she was fine.

I was so deep in my thoughts I didn't really notice all the blood staining my sundress and the mushy bits intestine on the bottom of my shoes. The torrents of lifeblood spilling forth from their arteries seemed to be mile away. In my heart I knew Kagami would go back to the vault first chance she gets, and I think I just then realized it; friendship is strong thing but nothing worth sacrificing such a great life for. Not to mention if all that person does is tease and annoy you, but when I do try to be sweet and nice to her she gets even more upset. I really don't know what to do; if I just stay silent she questions me. Doesn't look like there's anyway to win this but I'd never stop trying.

I love my dad and all, but I'd rather drag Kagami on adventures throughout the waste with some vague goal in mind than help my dad be a scientist or whatever. Man, I'd give it all for it to just me and her traveling around exploring ancient prewar buildings and finding all sorts of lost technology. We'd find something like factory full of plasma weapons guarded by Super Mutants; we'd outsmart them and kill them all. Kagami, whose butt I saved three time times in the fight, would look down at me…

_"Konata I wouldn't have made it if it weren't for you." _She'd say and I'd laugh it off and say it was nothing.

_"No, it was really brave of you." _She'd insist. I'd keep being modest and then out eyes would meet, slowly but surely our faces would draw closer. My heart would soar when our-

"I stand corrected." An old German voice said, instantly bringing me out of my daydream. My arms were soaked in still warm blood up to my elbow and my sundress was splattered with bits of gore and blood and bits of bone chips, I vaguely remembered my virtual massacre.

"It was fun while it lasted but I am a man of my word. You and your father are free to go." And with that a door appeared in front of me, I didn't bother to say bye to the fictional girl/old man.

**BACK ON THE OTHER SIDE**

I climbed out of the Tranquility Lounger and had a good stretch. Looked around and saw another was opening as well and someone was climbing out of it.

"_Dad!_"

Before he could even see me I ran up to him and hugged him tightly around his waist. After two weeks of stupid favors, trivial tasks, and lots of walking it was finally over.

"K-Konata!?" He stuttered, obviously surprised to find me here.

I let him go and replied proudly, "I rescued you from that weird game!" I guess he must have lost somewhere along the way.

He smiled and laughed, "You did didn't you!?" Then his smiled dissipated into a worried frown. "What are you doing here!? You were supposed to stay in the Vault where it was safe!"

_Gee thanks._

"When you left the Overseer apparently gave the security team these vague orders to keep the peace. I pretty much got chased out." I told him, I was trying to make it seem like I hadn't left on my own.

Dad gave me a thoughtful look, "Okay, I understand that you didn't have much of a choice then. Still you should have stayed somewhere safe like Megaton or Rivet City."

"It's okay dad, I had Kagami and Tsukasa with me!" I assured him.

"You brought _them _with you!?" He gasped nearly choking on his words. "Konata, I can't be responsible for other peoples children, Miki is probably dying from worry at this point."

"Once again we were chased out." I reminded him. Also Tsukasa and Kagami weren't _his _responsibility. "Also keep in mind that they're not children, they're both eighteen and can take care of themselves."

"Can they take care of themselves if danger comes along?" He retorted. I think at this point he was being argumentative on purpose. I knew that pretty soon he would be all clingy and saying sorry and all that stuff.

"Sure, we've been in plenty of danger. In fact Kagami's kill/death ratio is like 9/0." I sort of regretted saying that when I saw the look on his face. "Okay, I know what your thinking, but at this point shouldn't I be the one asking questions here?"

He thought for a moment. "I guess you're right, I did leave you a lot of confusion didn't I?"

"You could say that." I shrugged like it was some nonchalant thing. We walked out of Vault 112 which was actually sort of difficult since the new jumpsuit I had was rather hard to walk in.

"Where's Kagami and her sister now?" Dad asked when we walked outside. It was pretty late now, by my guess at least midnight.

"They went to do some errand for someone while I went here. Actually I was hoping if we could head southwest of here and meet up with them." I explained.

"I guess we could do that. It gives us a chance to…catch up."

**FINALLY REUNITED**

Looking back, this is actually probably my least favorite chapter. Something about I just really don't like. Mainly because it's one of my least favorite parts of Fallout 3.

WARNING TIME. Without spoiling anything I want to say that beyond this point this story gets darker, I mean A LOT darker. Some of the events are quite frankly rather depressing and I'm warning you now.

If there was any song that went along with this chapter it would be _Psycho Killer _by _Talking Heads. _I doubt this needs any clarification.


	13. An Almost Hiatus From Hectic

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 12- AN ALMOST HIATUS FROM HECTIC**

Of course neither of them knew if Konata had found her dad in Vault 112 or not. Tsukasa and Kagami headed back northeast where Smithy Casey's garage, to at least check on her progress and hope she hadn't run into one of the many, many troubles in wastes.

Tsukasa noticed that Kagami's armored jumpsuit was hanging on her in tatters, multiple parts had been torn off to tie other parts together and no amount of sewing could save the garment at this point.

"Onee-chan, I just had an idea." Tsukasa told her silent sister. Kagami had been acting odd since they left, she was completely silent and stared ahead like she was in some robotic trance.

"What's that?" Kagami asked, sounding particularly uninterested.

"When we were in Rivet City I saw a big market place, I didn't really get to see that much there but I did notice someone was selling all kinds of fabrics and stuff." Tsukasa replied. "Maybe I could make you a new outfit next time we're there?"

"Yeah…that'd be great." Kagami said with a smile, and ruffled her sister's hair. Tsukasa didn't know if it was a real smile or not but it beat her previous attitude, that pleased her enough to overlook the fact she hated having hair ruffled.

**FATHER AND DAUGHTER**

"I understand most of it." Konata replied to her father. "Irradiated water kills a lot of people and clean water is hard to come by. So you and Mom tried to find a way to purify all of the water, aptly named Project Purity."

"Yeah, that's all there is to it." Sojiro said, he was surprised his daughter managed to find out everything on her own.

"So are you going to keep working on it?" Konata asked. She assumed he would but there were quite a few variables.

"Definitely, things so far haven't gone as planned but I got a lot of valuable information from Dr. Braun. Most importantly on the prime ingredient we need to get Project Purity working again." He replied. Konata was relieved to know that his entrapment in Vault 112 wasn't a completely waste.

"What's the last thing you need?" Konata asked, she had so many questions about everything that had happened. Most of them were about her mother and her dad's decision to have them live in Vault 101.

"A Garden of Eden Creation Kit." He told her. "They're kind of hard to find though, every Vault was given two of them. Actually Vaults Eight, Thirteen, 101, and 112 don't have one and most of them were already used unsuccessfully."

"What do they do anyway?" Konata asked, she had heard them mentioned plenty of times, but wasn't sure of their function.

"To put it simply they're supposed to create life where there is none. A GECK comes included with fertilizer, seeds, and a small fission reactor along with other chemicals we could extract and use for the purifier. Now you can see why one is so important." Sojiro explained, he had the feeling there were more questions to come.

Konata hadn't realized how long they were walking until two figures loomed forward in the distant dark. The age old saying "If you can see them, they can see you" was apparently true since they stopped walking as well.

"Star Fall!" One of them called out. Konata smiled and jogged in closer, Sojiro could only watch in confusion.

"Sorry Kagamin the codeword was changed to Texas Hold 'Em, so I have to kill you now." Konata cried back.

"I thought the codeword was Rabbit Tail!" Tsukasa chimed in as well. Konata was now close enough to finally make the Hiiragi twins out.

"Sorry Tsukasa we changed it in a meeting to Star Fall, then in a meeting earlier tonight I got changed to Texas Hold 'Em. The vote was completely unanimous since the only other committee member was a mole rat." Konata explained to her.

"Oi! We're accepting rodents into the committee now?" Kagami said going along with it.

"We let you in didn't we?" Konata giggled watching Kagami's face distort. Sojiro had finally caught up with group and was having trouble understanding their inside joke, even Tsukasa couldn't tell at first that they were kidding.

"Kona-chan you found your dad!" Tsukasa cried out when she saw him join the three of them.

"You doubted me?" She replied with mock sadness. "Anyways how did it go in the something-or-other building?"

Kagami looked around nervously, "It didn't." Was all she could reply with.

"It looks like we've all had a long night, how about we go back to Smith Casey's garage and stay the night there, we can find out what to do in the morning." Sojiro suggested, the girls agreed and began their hike back.

Despite the unexplainable events that happened earlier that night Kagami was glad to see Konata chattering to her Dad about everything that had happened, and the people and family members she had met. As Kagami predicted, Konata changed the subject back to her mother every chance she got.

Kagami was surprised by what she heard about Kanata. Since she knew nothing about her, she had just assumed she was a spazzy scientist, like a smarter version of Yui. Much to her surprise she was actually born a tribal on the west coast but unless you asked her it was impossible to tell, even with her elaborate tattoos that sometimes showed. How she ended up Sojiro was a mystery to the three girls, personality-wise they were nothing alike. She was calm, quiet and extremely caring, always trying to find ways to help others. This inevitably led to her founding Project Purity. Sojiro on the other hand was just a pervy old doctor working in Rivet City when Hiyori invited him to go work on Project Purity with her and several other scientists.

**THE NIGHT'S NOT OVER**

The four of them spread out makeshift beds make from various bits of cardboard across the floor of Smith Casey's garage. Sojiro lucked out and found out that Smith Casey apparently lived in his garage and left behind a dirty mildew stained mattress, but as far as wasteland etiquette went it was actually in good condition. He fell asleep quickly still having a tough time believing that three young women went so far to find him. Life, in its own little way, was good.

Since Tsukasa also expired quickly, Konata took her time going through her things to see what kind of stuff Tsukasa was carrying about. She knew it was wrong to pry but she had reason for suspicion. As she expected there was a lot of just random stuff; a series of mysterious liquids in bottles, random books and magazines, four Vault-Tec Limited Edition bobble heads, the frame of a plasma pistol, Teddy-chan, and a Ripper knife. An impressive haul Konata had to admit.

She also noticed that Kagami was still awake; she was sitting up hugging her knees and fiddling with her Pip-Boy.

Konata snuck up behind her and looked over her shoulder to see what she was up to. Playing solitaire it looked like.

"Winning?" Konata whispered loudly, startling Kagami quite badly.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" She scolded between breaths while trying to keep her voice down.

"Eh, sorry." Konata shrugged, firmly believing that she was overreacting. "Can't sleep either?"

"Either being a choice word since your attempt to sleep wasn't exactly valiant." Kagami replied nonchalantly and finished off another deck on Solitaire.

"It's not my fault I can't sleep with all this stuff on my mind." Konata complained and collapsed next Kagami.

"I know what you mean, at least Tsukasa never changes." She replied and gestured at her sister who was curled up like she was at home and everything was normal.

"Well I'm bored, wanna go for a walk?" Konata suggested.

"Might as well." Kagami replied, she stretched her hand out and Konata helped her to her feet.

They silently exited Smith Casey's place into the cool night air. Konata noticed Kagami's tattered outfit, the legs were now shorts, and most of the armor was gone along with sleeves. The chest portion of it was in pieces around her waste with a sash made from other torn up parts covering her bosom.

"So, uh, what exactly happened? I know your outfit wasn't perfect before but…" Konata asked, trying not to ignite her temper.

Kagami blushed, "There were ghouls where we went, or just one, actually I don't know."

Konata glared at her curiously. "So…were they like to far away to see clearly like when you…Er, I mean when that platform broke."

Kagami looked around nervously, "Well the thing is I uh, don't actually know. You see, I _think _I killed a lot of ghouls but I don't have any proof, actually I do since my laser rifle's microfusion battery is almost drained."

"But it never happened?" Konata said trying to figure exactly what she was trying to say. Kagami was shaking now, Konata had a feeling that something happened.

"I don't know!" Kagami cried out in frustration, pulling at her twin tails; which now started at her shoulder instead at her head since proper hair care was now impossible.

Konata didn't know what to say or do so she just hugged her friend tightly. "Just tell me everything," she whispered, "I promise I won't judge you or call you crazy if it doesn't make sense."

Kagami nodded and let her go, in the sky the omnipresent moon looked down on them. Konata could have sworn it looked like glass.

She summarized her story and left out the unexplained bleeding and being chased by the unknown. Konata didn't know how to react to her story. Kagami had kept it very brief and excluded nearly every interesting detail.

"Kagami, are you going to be okay?" She asked, it seemed the only question she could think of that wouldn't resurface memories. Plus she did want to know if her best friend had gone insane.

Her friend took a deep breath and let it out, "Y-yeah, my guess is that something _did _happen but I probably hallucinated it. I smelled something and there was strange haze around the whole place so it could have been a gas leak or something. If it was I'm lucky to be alive then." It was comforting fantasy but it left many things left unexplained.

"Yeah that's probably it." Konata reassured her, in reality she didn't know either way.

"Thanks for not thinking I'm crazy." Kagami told her in a low voice.

"Don't worry I've known your crazy since I met you." Konata replied with her infamous cat grin.

Kagami did not look amused. Konata instantly felt guilty, _she says something heartfelt and I respond with a stupid joke. Go me._

To make up for her error she hugged Kagami again even tighter. Kagami reflexively jumped back a bit but didn't make any move to struggle away; in fact she hugged her back. Their eyes met and it was like something Konata had subconsciously fantasized many times since they had left the vault.

Kagami didn't know what she was doing and quite frankly didn't care, this is where logic and reason died and her heart took over. She looked down at her tiny blue haired friend and felt and overwhelming feeling of something she couldn't explain. It was like that feeling she got after eating warm cinnamon buns Tsukasa had just made, or curling up with a cup of cocoa and relaxing music. That feeling times a thousand.

_Command to Kagami, what are you doing! _The last little bit of rational thought screamed at her as she brought her lips slowly to Konata's.

Something a little ways behind Konata caught her eye; it was moving towards them rather fast too…

"Kagami are you alright?" Konata asked when she flinched back with a look of horror on her face, that look of horror could have meant a million things. Konata personally wished a mole rat was sneaking up on them or something and not that Kagami was rejecting her.

"Kagami are you alright?" Konata asked when she flinched back with a look of horror on her face, that look of horror could have meant a million things. Konata personally wished a mole rat was sneaking up on them or something and not that Kagami was rejecting her.

As if to only add to her confusion (or in this case fantasy) Kagami grabbed her and threw them both on the ground, Konata quickly realized this wasn't a gesture of lust. Kagami had thrown her out of the way on some oncoming _thing. _It lunged past them barely grazing Kagami.

In the moonlight Konata could see it perfectly. Ten feet high with a face bony demonic face with two horns jutting out of its head, its back was lined with deadly spines all they way down to the end of its long tail. By far the most predominant feature of this scaly monster was its claws; they were more like four foot bone swords than claws. Its skin was composed of rudimentary scales that were lined with scars and bloated cancerous growths.

Konata realized what it was after a good look at those claws. The aptly named Deathclaw.

Kagami jumped to her feet and grabbed her laser rifle which she had remembered to take along. The beast had made a massive lunge at them, but since it had missed it gave her time to fire off six shots. She growled in frustration when the rifle refused to fire anymore due to its dead battery.

Konata jumped up as well with her ever present combat shotgun. She took a deep breath as the monster slowly turned around, its massive claws putting it of balance. After a brief second of though she tapped a nearly hidden button on her Pip-Boy with a large warning label.

Static surged through her causing her to grit her teeth from the brief pain, it was over quickly and now a massive surge of adrenaline flowed through her. Everything slowed down as VATS or _Vault Assisted Targeting System _took over, the world spun in what seemed like slow motion and the monsters sprinting thirty mile an hour charge towards Kagami slowed down to a snails pace.

She had to react as quick as possible, but VATS made her feel like she was moving through water as she slowly lined up her shot. As fast as physically possible she fired four shells at the monsters head, from Kagami's point of view Konata had lined up a shot with lightning speed and fired four shots with no pause in between. The Deathclaw let out a quiet roar of frustration, more of a light grunt than anything else. Despite their massive size they were actually rather quiet monsters. The shells tore through its scaly face exposing most of its skull and blasting its lower jaw off.

Kagami did her best to dive out the way of its charge; losing most of its head had done little to stop it. How Minami had killed one with a rusted sword alone was beyond her. She didn't have time to think on that though. Despite her best efforts she didn't quite make it out of the way in time, one of the Deathclaws massive claws flayed her back igniting a tempest of pain. Kagami screamed and fell at the ground; she heard six more shotgun blasts and saw the demon collapse next to her with its entire head missing. She groped at the wound it inflicted and felt hot blood dripping through her hands, not much though, the gash itself was relatively light.

Konata sprinted to Kagami who was already starting to stand up. She stumbled over and looked at the monsters corpse. Konata saw her in the moonlight splattered with blood with her hair flowing freely in the wind, the Deathclaw managed to slice the sash of fabric around her chest leaving her completely topless. Despite all that Konata though she looked absolutely gorgeous, like a Valkyrie standing over the corpse of her fallen enemy, even though it was Konata that had killed it.

Kagami's stance faltered and she fell to her knees, and growled in pain through her teeth. Konata tried to help her to her feet with little success.

"Don't worry it's just a flesh wound." Kagami assured her and hoped against hope Konata wouldn't make some _Monty Python _joke. "It's not dangerous, just hurts a lot."

"Can you make it back alright?" Konata asked struggling to keep her friend on her feet.

"Go through my belt pouches I think I have something left over from the Super Duper mart that can help." Kagami instructed and fell down to her knees again. Konata awkwardly went through the pouches around Kagami's waist and found mostly discarded food wrappers and spent shell casings; eventually she found what she assumed to be her target. A narrow hypodermic needle much smaller than a stimpak, on the side of it _Med-X high performance morphine _was printed.

"Is this what you were looking for?" Konata asked and help it up for Kagami to see.

"Yeah, that's it." Her wounded companion replied and took it from her. Konata looked away since watching Kagami inject herself with it reminded her to much of a substance abuser.

Midway through their walk back Kagami was presented with a barely audible message from her Pip-Boy that only she could have heard.

"Warning, neurons altered, substance dependence detected. Substance identified as morphine."

**A MISCONCEPTION**

Tsukasa was awoken after hearing her sister and Konata talking quietly, she opened her eyes and could see in the dark Kagami's clothes were even more ripped up and she was stained with dried blood. She would have been worried if it weren't for her sisters smiling.

"How did you shoot in the head like that so quickly, with a shotgun no less?" Kagami asked, this grabbed Tsukasa's attention and she listened in to find out what nightly adventures the two of them had been on.

"VATS, I know it's dangerous but it probably saved your life" Konata replied. Saved her life, what kind of things were they up to?

"Yeah try to avoid using it if you can, I'm not going to scold you because it came in handy tonight. Be careful because it can really mess with things like your heart rate and blood pressure."

"We're down to one stimpak and those things aren't cheap." Konata said, changing the subject.

"Maybe we should stop in Megaton and see if Doc Church or Yui have any for sale tomorrow." Kagami suggested.

"Good idea, maybe Yu-chan and Iwasaki-san are there too." That seemed to be extent of their conversation, Tsukasa was about to fall asleep again when they started talking some more.

"So, about what almost happened back there…" Konata said nervously, this caught Tsukasa's attention.

"Can we not bring up the Deathclaw, like ever again? I don't need even more nightmare fuel." Kagami replied. _Deathclaw? They came across a Deathclaw; I heard those things killed entire groups of wastelanders and mercenaries alone. Maybe that's what Konata used VATS for. _Tsukasa thought, trying to piece everything together.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Konata told her, sounding completely serious.

Kagami sighed loudly, "I don't really know what to say about that, I'm not saying that I don't… It's not like…What I'm trying say is…" She stuttered nervously.

"I know what you mean." Konata said, silencing her, "I get what you're saying completely."

"You're not mad or anything like that are you?"

"No." Konata told her honestly sounding a little cheerful. "Do you think… do you think that we could…we could…you know?" Tsukasa did not know.

There was about a minute of silence between them. "I don't know, maybe… possibly if we were alone and…"

"We're alone now." Konata told, her almost sounding…Tsukasa couldn't find the right word for it… _Seductive_?

"No, not tonight." Kagami said quickly, Tsukasa could tell she was blushing even if she was facing the other way. "Some other time, I promise. It's a promise that I'll keep too."

Once again Tsukasa assumed they had gone to sleep and as soon as she was about to doze off again, the conversation continued.

"Konata what are you doing!" Kagami whispered loudly, "Give me space!"

"Aw, I just wanted to cuddle up a bit." Konata replied, sounding ten years younger than she was.

"Oi! Don't touch my back it still hurts." Kagami growled.

"Oh sorry, is this better?"

"Yeah, fine, whatever."

**101 INTERRUPTIONS**

Kagami was about to finally get some sleep after a long painful, and confusing night. Way too many things had happened that night and according to her Pip-Boy it was barely past midnight, it felt like dawn would be breaking soon. Then again an hour of the events that passed never actually happened.

Then there was the whole thing with Konata and the rudely interrupting Deathclaw. Anxiety overwhelmed her every time she thought about Konata, _Okay so there's pretty much always been this unspoken thing between us, like we were always a step above friends even if we didn't do anything beyond normal friend stuff. But where are we now? I mean we almost…we almost… Gah, I'm so confused, what am I supposed to say or do now? Where does this leave Konata and I?_

The tiny blue haired girl was snuggled up against her, Kagami had to admit she enjoyed the company, but it just added to her conflicted emotions.

She decided it was best to just go with it and just lay there. Just her, Konata… _and Tsukasa!?_

Sure enough her younger twin was crouched down next to the two of them.

"I didn't mean to startle you onee-chan, I just wanted to know what you and Kona-chan were talking about." Tsukasa whispered in the dark.

"You heard all of that!?" Kagami said louder than she intended, Konata stirred against her.

"Kinda, I was just confused…were…were you two..." Instead of finishing her sentence Tsukasa made two V's from her index and middle fingers and connected them at the base, creating a replica of some unspeakable act.

"What!? No!" Kagami said barely keeping her volume down. "Gah, that's disgusting how could you think that?"

"Then what were you talking about?" Tsukasa asked, looking almost disappointed. Kagami really hoped that wasn't the case, Tsukasa was weird enough already.

"Nothing, we just went for a walk and were discussing some stuff." Kagami told her and tried dismissing her with a wave of her hand. "Oh yeah and there was a Deathclaw but that's not important. Now go to sleep!"

Tsukasa walked back to her makeshift sleeping area, dragging her feet the whole way.

_Finally some freaking sleep…_

**BETTER TIMES**

That night Kagami had a eerily reminiscent dream, she was afraid she would have some Dunwich related nightmare, but this one was actually a pleasant surprise. It was like watching herself in third person. A tiny girl back in Vault 101 with short lilac hair sprinted into the Hirragi family dormitory.

"Mom, mom, mom, Tsukasa and I made a new friend!" She called out to her mother who was discussing the finer aspects of depleted uranium with her older preteen sister, Matsuri.

"Oh really?" Miki Hiiragi replied, sounding cheerful. Kagami had trouble fitting in with the other kids of Vault 101, and she was glad she found a friend. "What's their name?"

"Konata Izumi!" Kagami told her excitedly. "At first I though she was maybe four or five because she was so tiny but Tsukasa and I found out that she's actually a year older than us, she's eight!"

"You don't say." Her mother said, truthfully she was a tiny bit worried since Sojiro was a bit of an oddball. She didn't know why Overseer Yukari had let him and his daughter in, but she stuck by her decision.

"Yeah she's really funny and has a lot of cool prewar stuff and…"

**THE BITTER REALITY**

Present day Vault 101 wasn't so happy. Miyuki finally found the external broadcast system that could send and receive radio messages to Pip-Boys outside of the Vault. However, it had never been properly assembled, and Miyuki would have to scavenge the parts by herself. She headed down to the lower levels where the reactor was, there were bound to spare parts she could use to reassemble it. This was important; she needed to get a message out to her three friends who left.

Unfortunately the way to the lower levels was straight through the spot the Rebels chose as their base. After the Vault had opened a group of people had formed a rebellion against her mother to permanently open the Vault to the outside world. Miyuki knew that her mother had the right idea keeping it closed; none of them were fit for the outside world and were better off down here where it was safe. This was precisely the reason why she needed to send a broadcast to her friends and tell them the Vault door password.

"Oh and where do you think you're going?" A tall brown haired girl said and blocked her path; Miyuki noticed with much disdain that she had acquired a laser rifle from the armory. She hoped that it was for radroaches only.

"Excuse me I just need to get something from the reactor level." Miyuki replied shyly, and tried to step around her.

"You think we're that stupid? We know you're the Overseers daughter. You came here to spy on us didn't you?" The armed woman accused and grabbed Miyuki's sleeve.

"Hey, Miyuki's not here to spy on us!" Another with dark plum colored hair interjected. "Let her go Matsuri."

Matsuri sighed loudly and let get go. "Jeez Inori, you're too trusting."

"Miyuki was Tsukasa's best friend." Inori reminded her. "So what do you need here anyways?"

"I need to obtain some things from the reactor level." Miyuki explained again. "I found a radio that broadcasts directly to Pip-Boys, I'm hoping to send a message to your sisters and Konata-san and tell them the new Vault door password."

Matsuri looked overjoyed. "Why didn't you say so? Come on I'll lead the way!"

**ONE BIG HAPPILY FAMILY**

As planned, they stopped in Megaton for awhile to check up on how everyone was doing. Yui was happy to see Sojiro again and told them that Yutaka and her friend Minami had stopped by earlier but left that morning.

"Minami sure is nice and is really supportive of Yutaka and her issues." Yui gloated on, Konata was glad to see that she was supportive of her when there certainly was a lot to begrudge her about.

They told Yui that they had other things to attend to and couldn't work on her book, then said their good byes and left.

"I'm going to go get something to drink; I'll be at Misao's." Kagami told them and went her own way.

"I'll be shopping for stimpaks." Tsukasa said and bounded off to find a vendor who sold them.

"Well that just leaves us." Sojiro said and kicked a rock down the muddy slope of the crater Megaton was built in.

"Hey Dad, I wanted to ask you something." Konata said and kicked her own rock down the slope.

"Yeah sure honey, anything." He replied and looked around his feet for more kickable rocks.

Konata took a deep breath and thought about how to word it. "It's about me and Kagami, I think we're starting to become more than friends."

To her surprise, her dad chuckled to himself. "I've been suspecting that actually."

"What, how did you know?" Konata asked, she hadn't expected anyone to pick up on them.

"You two have been inseparable since you met and not to mention the way you were cuddling up this morning when I woke up." He explained. "You should do that again sometime, it was a nice fan service."

"Don't say creepy things like that Dad!" Konata scolded. "Anyways I take it that you don't mind?"

"Of course not, in fact if I remember right Kanata was married once to another girl before she met me." Her father told her.

If Konata was drinking water she would have spit it out. "What, you're just saying that to make me feel better, right!?"

"No, believe it or not it's the truth." Sojiro admitted, "I don't know much about them and she never talked about it that much. All I know is that it occurred when she lived in California and the circumstances were very odd. In fact I don't even remember the other girls name, it started with an 'M' I think."

"Still, I would have never thought that!" Konata said nearly out of breath from that kind of shock. "Man I'm like her in like every single way, huh?"

"More than you know." Sojiro replied with a nod. More than she would ever know, and as time went on the two of them would become increasingly alike.

**MISAO TRIES TO MAKE A QUICK CAP**

"Now nothings set in stone, but I want you to at least consider it. What do you think Hiiragi?" Misao asked, trying to get her opinion on her latest idea.

Kagami answered honestly, "Really Misao, really?"

"Yeah I think that my duties here shouldn't extend past catering." Ayano added nervously.

Misao grabbed Kagami and whispered to her, "I know she's reluctant now but if you ever are feeling lonely and have some caps come see me again."

Kagami pushed her away. "Not ever happening."

Another patron sat down next to her, she recognized this person from Rivet City. An Enclave officer's uniform and waist length blonde hair in a ponytail.

"Oi! Beer, over here now." The Enclave woman demanded. Ayano left her a lukewarm bottle and left without asking for pay, she knew better than that.

Misao crept up on her, "Say you look like the lonely type with a lot of caps." The Enclave officer said nothing and grabbed the eccentric saloon owner by the hair and slammed her face into the counter.

"With that I take my leave." She said quietly and left.

Misao stumbled in a quick circle, dazed and confused, "Man I hate those stupid Enclave people. Just because she's in her little club doesn't mean she can go around slamming my face into things. Not even Ayano is allowed to do that!"

"Be careful Misao," Ayano said putting her hand on her friends shoulder. "That was Colonel Kuroi, I remember her from my time with the Brotherhood. Whatever you do don't give her any reason to hate you. Dunno why should go out of her way to come here though. She hates interacting with anyone outside of the Enclave for any reason."

**PLANNING**

The four of them met up in the town center next to the bomb. "So where to next?" Kagami asked since she assumed Konata and her dad had all the plans.

"We need to go to Rivet City so my dad can convince Dr. Tamura to stop whatever she's doing and make her help us with what we're doing." Konata told her.

"Not exactly, but yes we're going to Rivet City to talk to Hiyori. We can get by without her, but it would take a lot of effort so we're going to try." Sojiro clarified.

"Now I can go shopping for onee-chan!" Tsukasa cheered.

**CAESURA **

I can imagine some people probably wondering "If they could have used VATS the whole time why did they just now use it?" Well like Kagami said it's dangerous and should only be used in dire situations, unlike in the game itself where you use it every single fight.

Fun fact, in the Fallout 3 Med-X is never directly stated as being called morphine, but that's what Bethesda had originally planned to call it. However, the good folks of Australia demanded they change that since morphine could be considered a drug. Also in the Japanese version the option to blow up Megaton is removed from the game and the Fatman weapon is renamed the Nuka-Launcher since, you know, Fatman blew up Hiroshima.

Although in the game nothing stronger than a 10mm pistol can be found, it is stated in the GOAT test that there is indeed an armory in Vault 101 with laser weapons, which is where Matsuri obtained hers.

Once again I hope you enjoyed this chapter and those that follow, especially since this chapter was hard for me to write since romance and friendship are not in my daily repertoire. I'm a loner by choice.

The song _Under A Glass Moon _by _Dream Theater _fits this chapter really well.


	14. Collapse

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 13- COLLAPSE**

Konata skipped pretty much the entire way of their three hour walk to Rivet City. She certainly did have a lot to be happy about; everything had turned out better than expected. They were going to do something to change the world, all those leper-like people dying of irradiation in the gutters of Megaton would now be free to drink water without worrying whether or not they would turn into a ghoul or flat out die. Then there was the fact that Kagami had indirectly admitted to having the same feelings for her, that had made her day. In fact that had made her week, but why stop there? That made her entire janitorial career and adventure into the wastes.

Kagami, on the other hand, was treading very lightly on the subject of her and Konata. In a way she had always known Konata had strong feelings toward her, she wasn't very subtle about it. She remembered a time in Vault 101 in school where Konata wrote and essay about her favorite thing, that thing happened to be Kagami. She was flattered by Konata's borderline obsession every now and then. One big problem she foresaw was the fact that she was not a touchy-feely person, while Konata was. It was far too easy to imagine Konata being extremely clingy and her reacting negatively, possibly to negatively and hurting her (not physically of course). Kagami thought that maybe she was just being paranoid but she could picture dozens of horrible things that could go wrong between them if she took this lightly.

Midway through their journey Tsukasa surprised everyone yet again. The stumbled across a gang of raiders who had set up a base underneath a massive bridge that spanned the Potomac. Kagami drew up an extremely elaborate plan to dispatch them quickly and efficiently. In the middle of her speech Tsukasa slipped away, a few minutes later there was a series of screams. Konata and Kagami grabbed their weapons to see what was going on, only to find the dozen or so raiders all nearly melted from an almost liquid fire that consumed them. Neither Konata nor Kagami could place the smell but wouldn't have been surprised to find out it was napalm.

Kagami wanted to ask Tsukasa what in the Nine Hells she had done to them but realized that she didn't want to know. Her best guess was that it was from one of those "Do it yourself homemade chemicals and explosives" books that she had found. As long as Tsukasa didn't blow them up and shatter them with white phosphorus, she was fine with her new hobby.

Not long after, the massive beached battleship that was Rivet City appeared in the background. No helicopters near the metal tower that the bridge was connected to this time, Kagami saw that as a good thing after that little spectacle with Misao and that officer. Sure Misao was a little eccentric but she didn't deserve to have her face smashed into a bar counter.

They ascended the rusted metal platforms of the tower and passed by an extremely dirty and smelly man begging for purified water. Just another reminded of why Project Purity was a necessity to these people.

"I remember you guys!" Patricia greeted. "Here to see Hiyori or just for leisure?"

"Both." Konata said, sure they were here for important business, but that didn't mean they could find something to do.

"I'll be at the market!" Tsukasa told them in her normal pleasant demeanor, and went her own way; following the many signs that led to the many areas of the ship.

"In that case, I'm gonna go check out that bar on the lowest level." Konata decided and bounded off.

"That just leaves you and me." Sojiro said to Kagami, who visibly uncomfortable.

"Yeah…let's go meet Hiyori." She replied, knowing that there nothing else for her to do.

**THE SPLENDORS OF RIVET CITY**

Tsukasa was amazed at all the things people had for sale. The market was set up in what used to be a mess hall. She went and bought supplies for tailoring first, and spent the last of her money on some microfusion batteries for Kagami's laser rifle since she knew that she was out.

Konata found out that the bar named "The Muddy Rudder" was about as boring as boring got. Just some people who had drunken themselves nearly blind sitting their feeling sorry for themselves from whatever wasteland event had that had ruined their lives.

Kagami had to admit that the science lab of Rivet City was fairly impressive, lots of old working prewar stuff. As Sojiro discussed every new thing he found, she browsed over the many papers and documents lying around.

One stack of papers caught her eye, she picked them up and examined them, "This is a…doujin?" Kagami realized and read through it briefly, it was signed Hiyori Tamura. She was definitely going to have a few words for the artist, because she didn't like this. Did not like this one bit.

**THE SISTER AND THE SWORDSWOMAN**

_Minami Iwasaki and Kagami Hiiragi stared each other down under the stars in the burnt sands of the wastes. This was to be their final confrontation, they stood atop a dusty hill and mentally prepared themselves for what was to happen next._

_"I cannot allow this to continue Iwasaki, you will stop this." Kagami ordered._

_Minami drew her newly reforged katana _Vampire's Edge _and pointed the shining blade towards her. "Tsukasa's heart is mine and if cannot accept that then you must die."_

_Kagami pointed a plasma pistol at her green haired opponent, "Tsukasa is confused and your taking advantage of her, you know I cannot stand by and watch you corrupt a pure girl's heart."_

_Without giving any indication Minami lunged in at her, _Vampire's Edge _shined against the moonlight and cast a glow against Minami's face that gave her eyes an angelic look. Kagami dived away from the oncoming Kensei and fired back at her, one shot connected on the green haired girl's stomach burning away her trench coat and exposing burned flesh, with her bottom two ribs displayed gruesomely._

_Minami staggered back grasping her horrible wound with her free hand, still never screaming even as the liquid fire dissolved at her like acid. She charged in again this time screaming and slashing wildly. Kagami fired back, but in her bewilderedness couldn't land a hit._

_The shining blade impaled her through the chest directly upwards through her heart and out the back of her neck. Kagami's looked at her with unseeing eyes and gasped her last breath as a trail of blood escaped her pale, ghostly lips. Minami kicked her body down the sandy slope, and watched with some satisfaction was it rolled towards the shores of the Potomac River. The mirelurks shambled out of the water to feast upon this fresh carrion that had been presented to them._

_Tsukasa sprinted out from seemingly nowhere and greeted her with an extremely passionate kiss._

**NOT THE TARGET AUDIENCE**

Kagami through the doujin back on the table it had come from and wondered what in the hell had inspired her to draw all of that. "How does she even know Minami?" She said to herself.

"How does who know me?" A flat, nearly monotone voice from behind her asked.

Kagami jumped back in surprise and turned around to find Minami sitting in a metal folding chair reading another one of Hiyori's works; Yutaka was on the floor next to her doing the same thing.

"When did you two get here!?" Kagami blurted out.

"Minami-chan and I got here this morning, she wanted to visit Tamura-san, and she's busy so we're reading her stuff." Yutaka cheerfully explained.

Minami glared over at the one that Kagami had tossed down, and with a sly grin replied, "Don't worry the relationship between your sister and I is strictly business."

"I would have felt better if you had just said nothing." Kagami muttered.

"Hey when did Yu-chan and Iwasaki-san get here?" Konata, who had just joined them asked. Yutaka repeated herself to Konata.

"I dunno about you guys but I'm about to die of boredom, anyone wanna play a game?" Konata asked with a mischievous grin.

**THE FIRST ANNUAL RIVET CITY DODGE-BALL TOURNAMENT**

"Wait she read that!?" A very red faced Hiyori gasped at the news she had just received.

"I'm afraid so." Minami told her. "What were you and that other guy talking about anyways?" She asked, referring to Sojiro.

"You two stop talking and help me sort out the teams here!" Konata called and gestured them over. Hiyori and Minami jogged over to the rest of the group, Konata had decided that the seven of them would play a game of dodge ball on the runway of the carrier ship.

"There are seven of us; the teams are going to be uneven." Tsukasa pointed out.

"I'll be the referee if no one minds." Yutaka suggested. Because of her frail body it was agreed upon quickly. The teams were as followed (names chosen by Konata)- The Angels of Death which consisted of Minami, Kagami, and Patricia against- The War Ensemble which consisted of Tsukasa, Konata, and Hiyori.

Yutaka placed the each of the three kick balls Konata had acquired in the center of the runway, and whistled loudly to signal the start. The six girls sprinted for them, Tsukasa was the first to grab one but had it yanked out of her hands by Kagami who then brought it down on top of her head.

"Tsukasa-san is out!" Yutaka shouted, Tsukasa shuffled to the sidelines rubbing the new bruise she had obtained on her head.

Konata grabbed the fallen ball and looked around for a suitable target. Her lightning quick reflexes kicked in, and she did a headfirst dive. Hiyori who saw that Minami was about to throw a ball of her own put her hands in front of her face and prayed for a quick and painless death. Konata dived in front of her and deflected the oncoming sphere of death with her own.

"Minami is out, Tsukasa is back in!" Yutaka shouted and Tsukasa skipped back into play while a very surprised looking Minami sat at the bench.

"Wow Konata that was something else." Hiyori complimented, from the corner of her eye she saw Tsukasa hit the head from a Patricia's ball, sending her flying backwards.

"And Tsukasa is out again!" Yutaka shouted with a giggle.

The game went on for much longer than anticipated, in the end it was Tsukasa and Kagami facing off, both of them had a ball of their own.

Tsukasa held her ball out in defense for when Kagami attacked; she had been hit six times and brought back in by Konata each time. The last time Konata had been attacked by two different angles and managed to only deflect one ball.

Kagami feigned an attack and Tsukasa flinched and brought her ball to her face since five out the six times she had been hit were in the head, the other time had been Minami aiming for the gut; which seemed to be her target of choice. Kagami took advantage of this and lobbed low, hitting her sister's knees. Tsukasa did a front flip and landed on her back.

"The Angels of Death win!" Yutaka shouted and the three girls of victorious team cheered, even Minami was a little enthusiastic. Kagami advanced to the other side of the runway and helped Tsukasa to her feet.

"Are you okay? I mean you got hit twice as much as anyone else." Kagami asked.

"Oh yeah I'm fine." Tsukasa told her and managed to smile, despite her aching back and head. "Oh yeah I managed to make you a new outfit."

"That quickly?" Kagami said in surprise. She only had an hour to herself and she managed to buy everything _and _make it?

Tsukasa had left it in the science lab in a neat little pile. When they all returned Konata and Patricia excitedly went over the details of the game with Sojiro. Kagami was stunned when she saw what her sister had made for her.

It was made of a wool and linen and was particularly warm. Tsukasa managed to find materials of matching colors which were a deep indigo color, it came along with knee high scuffed leather boots and gloves that when up to Kagami's elbows. The extremely long gloves made up for the fact that it was sleeveless. As an added bonus it came with a working gasmask that sat comfortabye around her neck, and even had a shawl that she could wear in the event of a dust storm or something; but for now it just sat there comfortably on her back.

"Wow, Tsukasa this is amazing!" She complimented after putting it on, not only was it practical and stylish it was also a perfect fit. The latter made since though, the two girls had the same measurements.

"I'm glad you like it." Her sister replied. blushing softly.

**HAIR MAKES THE PERSON?**

"Hiyori actually agreed!" Konata shouted excitedly to Kagami and Tsukasa, "She said that nothing important was going on around here, and that my dad actually made some good progress that could…Kagami is something different about you?"

"Tsukasa went out of her way to make this incredible outfit." Kagami replied.

"No, I mean your hair." Konata said after noticing her hair was flowing freely, and no longer shackled into the bonds of ponytails by ribbons.

"Oh I took the ribbons out, what's the big deal?" Kagami shrugged nonchalantly.

Konata looked horribly disappointed, "Does that mean you're not a tsundere anymore?"

"What are you talking about; hair styles are not personality traits." Kagami argued.

"I severely doubt that." Konata replied with an uncanny serious tone, "for instance, if we gave Tsukasa a Mohawk I can guarantee you she would become an alcoholic with a nymphetamine fix."

"Onee-chan is that true?" Tsukasa asked looking very, very worried.

"Am I the only sane person left in this world?" Kagami shouted out and threw her hands in the air.

"Anyways we're going to leave tomorrow to get everything set up at the Jefferson Memorial." Konata continued like the last part of their conversation hadn't had happened. "Are you two going to help?"

Tsukasa and Kagami looked at each other and decided through some unexplainable twin telepathy. "Yeah, at least until further notice." Kagami, being the spokeswoman of the two, replied.

"I don't know what I would do, I mean I'm not that smart and I probably wouldn't be of much help." Tsukasa said glumly.

"Don't you fear, throughout history scientists would have been nothing if it weren't for their trusty sidekicks. In fact my mom started off as an assistant before becoming one of the head researchers." Konata said trying to cheer her up. "Just look at the past Tsukasa, everything you've ever done was just to fuel others on to greatness."

Kagami couldn't believe how blunt she had been about it, but then again she had a point, people like that were needed to get things done, and Tsukasa certainly didn't seem to mind.

The rest of the day was spent in sub-leisure. The three girls finally got to take showers and clean themselves up, afterwards they each took a dose of Radaway since Konata and Kagami were extremely close to minor radiation poison, Tsukasa was surprisingly fine but still went through the procedure just in case.

**A NEW BEGINNING**

Everyone awoke early next morning in high spirits. The rest of Hiyori's science team was excited to see that they were finally being involved in something that really mattered. Patricia tagged along as extra support since they weren't expected the Brotherhood of Steel to lend any help anytime soon.

It didn't take as long they thought it would to get settled in, most of the stuff they previously used was still in function, just dusty.

"Wow you three really did a good job taking out those Super Mutants." Sojiro commented after looking at the Mutant corpses at periodically dotted the complex.

Konata looked at him nervously, "That wasn't us dad, I thought you did it."

"Me?" Sojiro replied looking as surprised as her, "You know I'm not a fighter, huh, must have been the Brotherhood of Steel or some group like that."

"Probably." Konata shrugged. Kagami overheard their conversation and wasn't so sure, the bodies didn't have conventional bullet holes but instead had large gaping wholes where the flesh had been blasted away. The signature of energy weapons, Kagami wasn't an expert but it looked to her like it was done with plasma weapons. The Brotherhood of Steel did not pack plasma weaponry.

The twelve people there met in a large circular room that consisted of circular metal catwalk that went around the edge of the entire room, with a large cylindrical room with glass walls in the center. In the center of that was a cylindrical tank of water that reached the top of the chamber. Kagami felt like it was layered like a cake.

"Alright first things first, we need someone to go into the sublevels and turn on the remaining fission batteries." Sojiro told everyone.

"I know how to work them, I'll go!" Kagami volunteered herself. She walked out of the room and found Tsukasa in the lobby of the place where the turret once was. Instead of her normal loose attire Tsukasa was wearing a white lab coat which also functioned as a skirt. Kagami had to admit that it looked adorable on her.

Tsukasa pulled out a pair of glasses from one of the coats pockets and put them on. "How do I look sis?"

"Despite the fact that you don't need glasses you do look pretty cute." Kagami remarked, although something was off. "Hmm, now I see the problem, your bow looks really out of place."

"I thought so too." Tsukasa agreed and untied the yellow bow, then handed it Kagami, "Can you hold onto it for me? I'll probably end up losing it."

"Yeah sure." Kagami said and pocketed it. She waved goodbye to her sister and went down to the lower levels to find the fission generators. Whoever had taken out the Super Mutants had been thorough, after making it to the lowest basement level she had come across another dozen or so dead Mutants. The inactive fission generators were in a room with two rectangular pools that led to part of the filtration system that filtered into the ocean. In the corner was a crumpled Super Mutant corpse which gave her an eerie sensation of being watched.

Kagami started them up and lights flickered on throughout the station.

"Great job!' Sojiro's voice said through an overhead intercom, she had to admit that he had a pretty good knowledge on this places functions. "Hm, we seem to have a backup in the sewers, while you're down there can you go fix that? Don't worry you don't have to get your hands dirty, just start the flush out system down there."

She wasn't in any place to refuse so she just went with it. It didn't take much to find a manhole that led to large drainage pipe that went throughout the entire complex. Kagami followed it a little while until she found a very filthy terminal against the pipe wall which she assumed to be her target. Part of the pipe had broken and she could see the sky and a good part of the Jefferson Memorial, it wasn't a spectacular view but she still enjoyed.

For a moment she was afraid when the pipe started shaking after she started the drainage procedure. Just for a brief moment Kagami thought that all the backup was headed in her direction and would drown her but luckily it took place in another part of the complex.

Over head she saw three Vertibird helicopters in a trianglular formation fly over and land nearby. _Oh please tell me that they're just here to visit. _She thought worriedly and followed the pipe for a solid ten minutes until she found another manhole to climb out of.

This manhole lead to the hallway near where Tsukasa had tended to Konata's wounds only a few days ago. The lobby was directly in front of her; she took a left and followed that hallway to the Purifier Room.

**TAKEOVER**

"In the name of the United States Government I demand you hand over everything related to this station to the Enclave. Furthermore you are to aid Enclave scientists in achieving functionality here." Colonel Nanako Kuroi ordered. Kagami found out that the central room had been locked from the inside, and Sojiro and Tsukasa were being confronted by the same person she had seen in Rivet City and Megaton. On either side of them were two Enclave soldiers leering sinisterly with the glowing orange eyes of their power armor.

"I'm afraid that is impossible." Sojiro bluffed. "We've never been able to replicate any test results in this facility and-"

"Sir, I am losing my patience." Kuroi growled.

"I'm sorry but there's nothing here for us to hand over to you." Sojiro continued. Apparently the Enclave was onto them, because she was not taking "No" for an answer.

"Just so you understand exactly just how serious we are about this…" Kuroi said and pulled out a 14mm pistol from her side. She raised it and fired a shot into Tsukasa's thigh. Blood sprayed outward and splattered against the metal beneath her.

"_Tsukasa!_" Kagami screamed, she punched the glass walls in vain. Her sister wobbled a bit then doubled over, a circle of red was spreading across the skirt of her lab coat. As she fell backwards, Kagami could see a look of hurt surprise plastered on Tsukasa's innocent face. She could see a single tear drop falling as Tsukasa collapsed backwards. A puddle of blood was quickly forming around her.

"Konata do something!" Kagami shouted and shook her tiny friend, who looked almost as distraught as her.

"I can't it's locked from the inside!" Konata replied, sounding completely hopeless.

"Now, now Colonel, it is Colonel right?" Sojiro stepped over to the terminal in the glass room. "No need for violence, I'm taking down all the security protocols now. We will oblige to your wishes."

"I'm glad you respond to reason." Kuroi said, sounding a lot calmer than she was a moment ago. Sojiro continued to type away for several minutes. "What's taking so long?" She asked, her sharp voice was dangerously impatient.

"Hold on I'm almost done." He replied nervously and dramatically hit the enter button.

"_Warning radiation filtration rerouted to users position, evacuation recommended" _An emotionless robotic female voice informed them.

"What did you do!?" Kuroi screamed. Before anyone could answer there was the sound of grating machinery and heavy vibrations throughout the facility.

Kagami saw Kuroi's face turn white and her nose start to bleed before she collapsed over; Sojiro limped over to the glass window that his daughter was on the other side of.

"Run…" Were the last words Sojiro Izumi ever spoke to his daughter. Weakness overcame him and he collapsed parallel to Kuroi, from the outside they almost looked like two lovers sleeping together.

"_Dad!_" Konata screamed and threw her self against the plate glass walls; her Geiger counter was reading +35 Rads per second just outside of the room. Which meant everyone inside was receiving a lethal dose.

Kagami grabbed her and yanked her away.

"Let me go!" Konata screamed and wriggled away. She tried to find some way to open the door, but it was specifically designed to keep people out.

"Konata I saw at least three helicopters land which means there's going to be a lot more soldiers here soon, so be better get moving now." Kagami said, trying to reason with her.

"What about my dad and your sister!?" Konata asked.

"Did you see how much radiation we're getting just standing outside of there; it's too late for them." Kagami yelled, sounding completely hysteric, "_We have to go now!_"

Konata said nothing, but just followed her into the lobby where everyone else was. They had seen Patricia and several other Rivet City security members taking shots at the Enclave outside through door that led inside.

"Okay you two are here, I didn't know how much longer we could wait!" Hiyori said and gestured them to follow her. "This way leads straight to the Citadel." She dragged open an almost hidden manhole cover and led them down into a maintenance passage.

Hiyori stopped dead a corner and jumped back, "They beat us here!" She cried out. Kagami looked around the corner and indeed there were two Enclave soldiers heading their way.

She open fired on them with her laser rifle, the two went down quickly since power armor only effectively protected against bullets. They managed to get two shots on her left arm, it hurt but she would make do for now. They continued on further until they reached a dead end of sorts. Their two options were either a massive locked fortified metal door, or a large room with numerous Enclave soldiers on a second flood catwalk behind cover.

"I can get this door open." Hiyori assured them and ran over to the terminal at its side and began typing away attempting to find a way to unlock it.

"They're coming down the stairs." A member of the science team informed after peering into the other room.

"Konata and I will handle this." Kagami told them and took cover at the edge of the doorway, with Konata on the other side.

"Let's consider this first step on our long road to revenge." Konata hissed and loaded a clip into her assault rifle.

"Yes, Let's." Kagami replied and took grim satisfaction in the impending death of these soldiers. She quickly popped out of cover and fired three shots into one before dodging back to avoid them returning fire. Konata did the same; they had to time themselves with extreme precision to be able to get shots off without being fired on.

"Got it!" Hiyori yelled and the door opened.

Kagami gestured to Konata to sprint across the doorway; Konata shook her head indicating that it wasn't safe.

"I'll cover you!" Kagami told her, Konata nodded and sprinted across as soon as Kagami popped out and began firing on them. After this long standoff the Enclave was used to her strategy and were anticipating her next move; they quickly fired back blasting her in the chest with at four shots. She screamed and fell back.

Konata helped her to her feet and worked like a crutch to carry her out. Only after a few minutes Kagami lightly pushed her away, "I can walk on my own, thanks." She told her.

Luckily, the rest of the way was devoid of Enclave, soon they came across a sandbag bunker of Brotherhood of Steel members.

"Are any of you wounded?" One holding a sizable mini-gun asked. Despite all their flaws, Hiyori had to admit that they had good timing as long as the Enclave was involved.

"I am." Kagami spoke up, her chest and arm burned horribly in several places and she was starting to feel light headed and exhausted, at least the pain was distracting her from thinking about what happened to Tsukasa.

A Brotherhood member with a red cross on his armor quickly stepped up and pulled her aside to a makeshift medical area. Konata peered over his shoulder.

Kagami reached up and grasped her hand. "We failed, Tsukasa and your dad are dead and Enclave took it all over. We didn't do a single thing right." She whimpered, tears were flowing freely down her cheeks.

"Don't talk like that Kagami, for all we know they could have made it out after us." Konata said trying desperately to lift her spirits, even though she knew Kagami was probably right.

"Wishful thinking…" She was having trouble speaking, "I guess Yukari was right about keeping everyone in the vault."

The Brotherhood medic interrupted their conversation and pushed Konata away. "She's going into shock; we need to begin treating her now." He gestured to a man wearing nondescript red robes that quickly ran over to aid him. Konata stayed and watched them perform a minor surgery; they applied some ointment to the burns before injecting her with two stimpaks. Konata felt guilty knowing those wounds were inflicted when Kagami was giving her an opening.

The scene around her was surreal. People were running around shouting orders, several of the science team members had been shot up. She saw Patty sitting against the wall holding a bloody rag against her forehead, Konata saw in horror that she had taken a laser rifle shot to the face. Two of her security team members were laying dead next to her.

_I don't care what it takes I'm going to make sure everyone one of these Enclave bastards die. They'll pay for Tsukasa, they'll pay for my Dad and they'll pay for ruining my mothers dream. _Then a cold and sinister thought appeared in her mind. _Oh god I'm an orphan now!_

**LIKE A COCKROACH**

Four men in hazmat suits pulled the three unconscious bodies from the Purifier Room. Despite all odds Kuroi stood up, she wavered a bit was able to stand unassisted. She felt dizzy, light headed, and like she wasn't even in her own body. Her nose was still bleeding, and nearly all of her body itched. When she scratched an itch the skin would come off and create another bloody sore.

"Colonel, you shouldn't put any unnecessary strain on yourself. You three took a near fatal dose of radiation and you need medical attention right away." One of the men in hazmat suits tried to tell her.

She ignored him and looked down at the still unconscious body of Sojiro Izumi, the man who tried in vain to kill her off back there. She figured that he should learn that if he was going to try and kill her he should do it right. Kuroi drew her 14mm pistol and fired one shot. Blood splattered against Nanako's ghostly face and mixed with her own.

"That was the head researcher!" Another man in a hazmat suit cried, "We could have used him!"

"Take her then." She replied exhaustedly and pointed at the random girl she had shot to make a point, she was still alive even after loosing a sizable amount of blood and being subjected to deadly amounts of radiation.

"Acknowledged." They replied in unison. Kuroi let them carry her out in a stretcher, since all of a sudden walking had become a very exhausting task. They carried the young lilac haired scientist off as well; it was probably a fifty-fifty chance she would survive.

**ENCLAVE, BACK IN BUSINESS**

Misao slumped against the bar late that night after _Through Fire And Flames_ kicked her ass again. She thought maybe some radio could cheer her up.

No music, just Three Dog talking about his usual stuff. "Grab your hankies, children, cause I've got a heart-warming tale to tell. It's about a little girl's search for her daddy. Waaaahh! You see, the kid from Vault 101 has been looking for her dad, a very nice man named Sojiro who left his daughter in the vault when he took off. What kind of dad leaves his kid in an underground bunker? Children, I just don't know. It ain't for Three Dog to judge, and you shouldn't either. But none of that matters now! Father and daughter were spotted walkin' and talkin' out there in the wastes. Here's to hoping they can hold onto each other this time around."

Misao rolled her eyes hand hoped that music would start playing but Three Dog continued. "Tinfoil hat time, children. My eyes and ears tell me the Big Bad Government has taken over that big machine thingy at the Jefferson Memorial. You heard it first, my friends- the Enclave is on the scene. I've got reports of flying ships and shock troops in high-tech power armor. And when the Man showed up a bunch of scientists went running. With them was Rivet City's own Dr. Hiyori Tamura, and those crazy kids from Vault 101. They're safe and sound now at the Citadel. Praise Jesus! Praise Jesus! No sign of the kid's father, though. Here's hoping Sojiro is okay. Well, boys and girls, what can I say. President Eden wasn't completely full of shit after all. Methinks we are screwed…"

Getting fed up with speeches Misao changed the channel on the radio; the only other station was just another person with a speech. This time it was a well spoken man with a slight southern accent. "Sweet America, hello again, this is President Eden. I'd like to have a chat. You're thirsty, aren't you? Not for knowledge or power, no I'm not speaking metaphorically. You're thirsty for clean, fresh water. Water is the foundation of life. But here, in the Capital Wasteland, indeed in the entire country, water is polluted. Irradiated. Deadly. Maybe you've got a makeshift purifier that cleans one glass of dirty water, or, or you sip from an ancient faucet in an abandoned subway restroom. But that's not really living, is it? You're simply existing, America. Postponing death for a day or two. Well, I'm gonna tell you, right here, right now, those days are at an end. The Enclave is back America, we've brought clean water with us! For years, Enclave scientists have been hard at work on the most ambitious scientific endeavor the world has ever seen. Project Purity. Imagine America, millions, millions of gallons of water made fresh, clean, and completely pure. In a matter of minutes and it's all for you. Just a little bit more time, that's all we need, and the purifier is ready for continual operation. And then, your thirst will truly quenched. So celebrate, sing out _America is back! America is beautiful!_"

"America can shut up." Misao muttered and turned the radio off. "At least the Enclave got their crap together and did something right for a change. I guess that makes up for smashing my face into the bar."


	15. Somewhat Damaged

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 14- SOMEWHAT DAMAGED**

Konata stumbled into the small room her and Kagami were sharing in the Citadel, from a stereo in the corner moderately loud music was playing.

"What're you listening to?" She asked Kagami, who was laying on her stomach reading a thick paperback book.

"Oh, some album called _Dethwater_ by a band called _Dethklok_." Kagami answered blankly and turned a page. "What were you talking to Shiraishi about?"

"He said they reviewed everything my dad found out in Vault 112 and he said him and the scribes were trying to find out where a still working GECK could be." Konata replied, "I don't know why they even let us stay, it's not like we're doing anything." The extremely pessimistic tone of her voice was not lost on Kagami, since the events with Enclave she had been exceptionally bitter and hadn't teased or made any jokes about anything.

"Took Med-X again?" Konata said pointing at an empty syringe on a nightstand next to her.

Kagami instantly turned defensive. "I already told you that laser burns don't heal well even with stimpaks and it puts me in around the clock pain!" Konata rolled her eyes, from what she saw Kagami had made a full recovery.

They sat there in silence listening to music and reading over Brotherhood of Steel documents. The only remotely interesting thing either of them had found out of any of it was the fact that blood conducted electricity extremely well.

Just as both of them were thinking it was going to be another day of doing absolutely nothing, a loud beeping emitted from both their Pip-Boys in unison.

_"Incoming radio transmission received, signal identified as Vault 101 Reconnaissance Response Broadcast."_

Kagami sat up instantly and found a list of available radio stations, she scrolled past GNR, the Enclave, and the dozen or so locally operated HAM radio broadcasts until she found the right one. Konata sat down next to her to hear it as well.

"It feels like you left home a long time ago, but I know you're still out there. I just hope you're still alive to hear this." It was Miyuki's voice. "Things got worse after you left. A whole bunch of people formed a rebellion and think my mother's gone mad with power. If you can hear this, please stop looking for your dad and help stop them before they do anything drastic. I changed the door password to my name. If you're hearing this, and you still care enough to help me, you should remember it."

That last sentence stung both of them emotionally, how could Miyuki possibly think they had forgotten about her after just after a month and a half?

Kagami stood up and grabbed her messenger bag and laser rifle.

"Where are you going?" Konata asked as she stepped through the door.

"_We're _going to go fix this because it's our fault. I know you don't care about the vault in any way shape or form but I still have family and friends there; and you're partly responsible." Kagami scolded.

Konata said nothing but packed what little she owned, "Just as a reminder I didn't choose for any of this to happen." Kagami said nothing as they left to tell Akira where they were going, she seemed particularly uninterested and let them leave.

The Citadel was located across the Potomac River from the Jefferson Memorial, in fact it could almost be seen from the other side as small dot.

"So we finally get to go home huh?" Konata said, trying to make conversation with Kagami, who was walking extremely fast.

"Looks like it." She shrugged.

"Took longer than we expected didn't it?"

"Yep."

Konata chuckled after thinking about Kagami's attitude when they first left. "You know, when we first left you complained about it here so much, but now that we're going back you almost seem reluctant."

Kagami kept her eyes on the ground and waited a few seconds before replying, "I wanted us to all go back together, I guess that was pretty naïve of me." Konata really didn't know how to reply, Kagami was different now. Before she had always been the calm, cool, and collected one who was always so sure of herself and would make sure she would succeed no matter what. Now here she was doubting everything thing they did and constantly putting herself down. Konata grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight while struggling to keep up with her pace.

"Kagami, you have to understand that what happened to my dad and Tsukasa wasn't our fault. How were we supposed to know that Enclave would show up and ruin everything?" She said trying to console her, Kagami had been taking the loss of her sister a lot harder than Konata had been taking the loss of her dad. Konata knew her dad wouldn't want her sitting around crying, he would want her to smile when she thought of him and think that just his body was gone.

"That wasn't what I was thinking but thanks for bringing it up!" Kagami screamed and pushed Konata away, the blunette staggered back and fell on her butt. "You've brought this up everyday since it happened, I don't know how I can spell it out more clearly. _I'm fine_."

Konata just looked down at the dirt. "I was just trying to make you feel better that's all."

"Well don't" Her emotionally distant companion said adamantly. Konata gave her some space, and kept around five meters away from her as they walked back towards their old home. After two hours of walking Konata knew they were almost there, she was falling behind now since Kagami hadn't once faltered in her 5 mile an hour walking speed.

**FINALLY HOME**

Officer Gomez sat on a metal folding chair in a position with his back towards the massive steel door of Vault 101, just in case any rebels were going to a crack at opening the door. He did not expect it to open from the outside.

He stumbled out of his chair and drew his 10mm pistol for whatever wasteland horror could have managed to unlock the door. After the dust cleared and massive horrible metal screech finished, the last person he expected to see was standing before him.

Last time he had seen her she was wearing a lab coat over her Vault 101 jumpsuit, now she was wearing a deep indigo sleeveless outfit with high gloves and boot, her lilac hair was no longer in two long ponytails, but flowing freely down to the small of her back.

"Hiiragi!?" He choked in disbelief, Gomez had been sure that her, that little blue haired tyke, and her sister had died by now.

"Gomez." Kagami greeted with a light bow.

"Oh wow I sure didn't expect to see you again, be thankful it was me who found you and not some of the others. A lot of the people blame you and Izumi for what happened that night." He told her and put his gun away.

"I know a lot of stuff went down when we left, fill me in." Kagami requested and crossed her arms.

Gomez laughed nervously to himself, "I don't know where to begin, first off a lot of radroaches got in and quite a few people died that night. Then most of the younger vault dwellers claimed the Overseer ordered the security team to crackdown on them after some kids died in a firefight."

"What's Yukari doing about all of this anyways?"

The security officer pondered this for a moment, "So far not much, she asked the security team to do pretty much what ever they deem necessary to end the conflict. I get the feeling she's just hoping it all blow away like a bad dream."

That didn't surprise Kagami in the slightest, "Don't worry Gomez I'll find a way to fix all of this."

"I bet you will, for what it's worth I always knew you were a good kid." He said as she ventured back into her home.

She was briefly aware that Konata was just now entering the Vault too but Kagami didn't have anything to say to her. Konata would instantly jump to conclusions and go on about how everything wasn't their fault and they would get past this and other sugarcoated fantasies. The way Kagami saw it, was that this was a time that she needed to act like an adult and fix everything that had gone wrong. The vault, and Project Purity in whatever way she could.

The Vault was partially her fault her she knew it was, and she knew it was her responsibility to fix this. Despite her contempt for Project Purity and how it had taken her sister, Kagami knew that it bigger than her and had to be finished. This brought another issue to her mind, proof that karma didn't exist was all over the wastes. Bad people who pillaged, killed, and raped their way to the top sat comfortable on the broken spines of everyone beneath them. People with good intentions who made it their goal to help others if only to see them smile, some one like say Tsukasa. Someone who never hurt anyone who didn't truly deserve it, someone who never put other people down or insulted them, someone who always saw the good in every situation despite how dark it seemed. Now that certain someone ended lying there in a pool of her blood while after probably dying of radiation poisoning, the whole time wondering, "What did I do to deserve this, why did that person hurt me?"

That very thought caused Kagami's blood to boil and her eyes to water, her heart rate increased rapidly in response. Tsukasa left the vault and never once stopped putting others before herself and she was rewarded with death.

"Kagami, oh thank goodness it's you!" Miyuki cried after seeing her childhood friend enter the vault atrium. She sprinted over and hugged her ragged lilac haired friend fiercely.

Her embrace was eagerly returned, "Oh god Miyuki I was afraid I would never see you again, I hope things aren't too bad here."

Miyuki let her go and regained her composure. "They certainly aren't going well, but I think with your help we can restore order. If you don't mind me asking, did you come alone?"

Kagami looked around nervously. "Konata will probably show up at any second, but besides her that it's just me."

The Overseers daughter gave her a thoughtful look, "Did Tsukasa-san stay outside? How unlike her, I suspected she would want to see her family again. Also did Konata-san have any luck finding her father?"

Without answering Kagami walked past her towards the dormitories of the Vault, Konata had just entered the atrium. "She can fill you in."

"Yuki-chan!" Konata squealed and jumped onto Miyuki with a tackling hug.

**NO WELCOME FOR THE WEARY**

Miki Hiiragi sat at her cluttered desk reading _The Stand, _wondering where everything had gone so wrong. She knew that chaos would ensue as soon as she heard the vault door had been opened, the radroaches quickly overran the place but were dispatched by the security force; not without causalities though. Her whole world had shattered around her, the two youngest of her four daughters had ventured out with that despicable little Izumi girl. Miki had known from the start that her and Sojiro would be trouble. To make matters worse, the security team had imprisoned her husband, Tadao, nearly two weeks ago for trying to reason with the Overseer. Those trigger happy bastards had arrested him as soon as he raised his voice against her. Then her oldest daughters had gone and joined that insane rebellion, and something had addled their minds into thinking that leaving Vault 101 was a suddenly good idea.

The electronic door opened and someone she didn't recognize stepped through. Miki felt a tinge of panic when she realized it was someone from _the outside_. Some woman wearing a deep indigo sleeveless outfit with high boots and gloves, with a much worn looking laser rifle on her back.

Something clicked in her mind once she saw those deep azure eyes and long lilac hair.

"_Kagami!_" She nearly screamed and threw her arms around her daughter. "Oh baby I was so worried about you!" Kagami said nothing and held her mother, who was openly crying, she could feel tears of her own falling from her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry mom, I never meant to worry you, Tsukasa and I never tried to leave the vault. It just happened. Don't worry I'm home now" She said and used the back of her palm to wipe the tears off her mother's face.

A spark of worried light appeared in Miki's eyes. "Tsukasa, where's Tsukasa?" Before Kagami could reply her two older sisters Matsuri and Inori burst into the room.

"I told you they weren't lying, she really did come back." Inori said to Matsuri with a hint of arrogance. Kagami had expected more hugs and worried questions, so her sister's reactions were not anticipated.

"What the hell were you thinking!?" Matsuri screamed at her, "Do you know how much hell you and that little blue whore caused here? What could have possibly possessed you to drag Tsukasa along as well, did you actually think that leaving the vault alone was a good idea and that you three could take on the world!?"

"Shut up you weren't there, you don't know what happened!" Kagami screamed back, effectively matching her sister's pitch.

"You two please stop fighting!" Miki interjected, sounding desperate, "Now Kagami, please tell me where Tsukasa is, I need to know that my baby girl is okay."

Kagami looked around at her three family members staring at her intently waiting for a reply. Her lower lip was quivering and she felt like she was in the spotlight of a murder trial as a witness, with everyone wanting to know what happened.

"Come on tell us!" Matsuri demanded, sounding beyond extremely impatient.

Inori put a hand on her shoulder. "Leave her alone, she's probably been through more than we can imagine."

Kagami brushed Inori's hand off and tried to say something, anything. All she could manage was choking sob, she shook her head quickly, and tried desperately to say something, "Tsu…Tsukasa…she di-…she didn't…"

Miki's face turned white when she realized what her daughter was trying to convey. "No…no…that's not possible…who would…_NO!_" She screamed and tugged at her hair.

"I'm so sorry Mom…" Kagami whispered, feeling like the entire weight of world was crashing down on her heart. "I wish I could have done something, anything…"

She felt a bolt of sharp pain explode on the side of her face. _D-did Matsuri just slap me? _Kagami wondered in disbelief as she put her hand to her burning cheek. _Damn, she hit me hard enough to draw blood._

"Something you could have done!?" Matsuri screamed loudly in her face, "How about not dragging her along with your fucking friend on a magical adventure through hell!" To emphasize her point she slapped Kagami again.

At that point Kagami thought of a million things to reply with, a million different logical arguments about how it wasn't their fault that it had happened, that she did her best to protect her sister and how Tsukasa died for something she had believed would have helped so many people. Smiling and laughing all the way to the end.

She calmly stood up and smashed her fist into Matsuri's nose. Her knuckles spilt the cartilage easily, blood splurted forth and Matsuri staggered backwards in utter disbelief. Kagami walked past her and out of her families dormitory, behind her she could hear Inori scolding Matsuri for her obscene behavior and her mothers wailing sobs.

_I failed again; every time I try to do good I end up making everything worse for everyone. What the hell is wrong with me? I don't try to do this, now my family hates me and I've isolated the only person who still cares about me. This…this isn't fair! I seriously think sometimes the world would be better with me gone, then Tsukasa would be still here laughing around the family dinner table as she they all bit into delicious brownies she made. No, it's not me; it's all those bastards who spend their lives preying on others, despite how horrible they are and all the lives they ruin people still flock to them. I think I understand it now, it's all about power in the wasteland, and Tsukasa and I had none, that's why we were doomed from the start. But who says I can't have that sort of power? I'm smart, athletic, and am a good marksman, so what's stopping me? Before I get ahead of myself I should probably confront Yukari about this and get everything settled._

With those thoughts something inside of Kagami Hiiragi died, that last bit of innocence and compassion turned to ash. In its stead something broke free and consumed her, it can only truly be effectively described in the longest extended metaphor I've ever written.

**I TAKE NO CREDIT FOR THIS**

In the deep recesses of her mind two guards were sanctioned to guard something, they were never allowed to know what would happen, if in by some chance it broke free. Occasionally it had broken through but was easily contained before it would work to control the rest of her.

"It's more restless than usual." One of the guards remarked, in all aspects the two of them looked exactly like Kagami, just like everyone else there used to personify the abstract concept of thought.

"I know, I called for reinforcements but they just told me that all available units are stationed in other places. Typical bullshit." The other Kagami guard agreed.

"Just remember you can't go within two meters of it not matter what, also don't put anything within reach of those two meters too." The first guard reminded her junior.

"Jeez stop acting like I'm new here, I know the drill. Besides we're seventeen floors underground, even if it did escape where does it think it can go?" The second Kagami guard asked, before her partner could reply the entire facility shook violently like some massive celestial object had crashed down upon it. She collapsed from the vibrations and, to her horror, her cell-phone had slid with in the two-meter range.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" The senior guard screamed as her partner slowly reached in to retrieve it.

Much to her relief, the younger guard managed to grab it without being scathed, "That was close, I have all the pictures of my wife and kids on there."

"Still, try and be more careful." The other guard scolded. As her partner began pulling her arm back she pulled in by some unseen force and was torn into dozens of bloody chunks which flew across the large metal chamber. Where the guard had been standing was a floating metal key.

The remaining guard felt her stomach flip; the key floated over and began unlocking each of the many locks constraining the monster. "Code red! Code red! Rage has broken out; I repeat Rage has broken out!" She screamed into her radio.

The metal coffinlike confinement that had been holding rage back fell to the side, revealing a nude version of Kagami with a metal helmet-like facemask with no features hiding her entire head. Before the guard could react her heart was torn from her body and thrown aside.

Whatever had shaken the facility had managed to damage the central mainframe and now every single door was unlocked. Rage effortlessly made her way upwards floor by floor slaughtering everything that was unlucky enough to cross her path.

She finally reached the ground floor, and was confronted by a version of Kagami in a neat business suit surrounded by a dozen armed guard versions of her as well.

"Director Subconscious, should we open fire?" Of the guards asked.

"Not yet." The Subconscious Kagami in the business suit replied and held up her hand. "Rage, we have you at a dead end, there's no where for you to go at this point, I can understand your frustrations for being locked up but you know it's for your own good."

At that moment, a version of Kagami wearing secretary clothes and glasses tried to run across the long metal hallway but tripped on her feet and fell managing to spill the tray of drinks she was carrying. "Oh my goodness I'm ever so sorry!"

"Remorse, get out of here!" Subconscious yelled. Remorse looked up at her wide-eyed then looked the other way to find a naked woman with a creepy, rounded, faceless metal mask looking down on her. It was the last thing she saw before her head was torn off and held up facing the others like a grizzly warning.

"Damn you, you just killed Remorse, do you understand what you've done. Girls, open fire!" Subconscious ordered, she didn't want to dare think of the consequences of losing Remorse. Remorse's lifeless body hovered in the air and managed to safeguard Rage from the oncoming string of bullets. The body was shredded to tatters from the onslaught of metal.

Then one by one, each of the guards had one vital organ or limb removed one after another. Subconscious stood surrounded by the mutilated corpses of those Rage had slaughtered.

In a concrete bunker located above the facility Self-Control grabbed her sniper rifle and loaded a clip of .403 rounds into and aimed down the sights. Indeed Rage was now walking towards the cliffs that overlooked the ocean that separated them from Central Control, if she made her way there then all they had worked to build would be for nothing. Self-Control aimed for the back of Rage's neck where she was free of the protection of her metal mask. She squeezed the trigger and at that very moment Rage turned her head

The bullet shattered the side of helmet, causing it split into two pieces and fall at her feet. Lilac hair cascaded down her shoulders and fluttered in the wind, she then dived into the water below.

Nothing could stop her now. Self-Control knew they were powerless; Rage would go and spread her taint to the rest of world they knew.

**DIPLOMACY**

All that happened in the blink of an eye. Kagami made her way to the Overseers office; Yukari was sitting on a very comfortable couch fiddling with her laptop.

"Oh Hiiragi, I didn't expect to find you here. I want you to know that I'm very upset about you three leaving." Yukari said, to Kagami she sounded like an angry mother scolding a child.

"Open the vault to the outside world." Kagami said, crossing her arms in an impatient gesture.

"I'm sorry but I just can't do that." The Overseer said, astonished that she could ask something like that. "You know that no one here is fit to survive the wastes, how you survived is beyond me. Still I'm glad you decided to come home, hopefully you can talk some sense into those rebels.

Kagami stepped across the office and met her face to face, "Do you have any idea what your crack team of security officers have done?"

Kagami stepped across the office and met her face to face, "Do you have any idea what your crack team of security officers have done?"

"Don't think I don't know what my own employees are doing." Yukari said defensively, putting her hands at her hips in the gesture of an angry mother arguing with her 8 year old.

To her surprise, Kagami grabbed her by the collar of her 101 Jumpsuit and raised Yukari to her face. "Listen you egotistical pathetic excuse for an Overseer, your men are responsible for at least half a dozen deaths and chased me and my sister out of the Vault and you just sat back and watched!"

Yukari glared around nervously, "I can understand your anger but…_Security!_" She screamed. Kagami let her down and turned around to see four officers who were in the middle of switching shifts. Just a few weeks ago she wouldn't have ever considered firing back at them, but she wasn't as naïve now. When she saw them drawing their pistols she knew that reason wouldn't work here.

The Vault Security team had very little experience when it came to a target that fought back with another firearm. The four of them were quickly dispatched and dissolved into ash from a kiss of an AER9 Laser Rifle.

Yukari stumbled back in disbelief from the slaughter she had just witnessed. She had never expected bloodshed.

Kagami grabbed the Overseer again and mentally prepared the little speech she was going to give. "Listen…" She began calmly. "I understand fully why you don't want to let people leave the vault; all those people, including my sister's, aren't wanting to leave just for the sake of rebelling."

"I realize that, they want to leave out of sheer boredom. That boredom has gotten people killed!" Yukari shouted back. She was rewarded with a heavy punch to the eye, whatever had happened into wasteland had warped this young woman's mind, and the punch had felt like it was backed with three inches of iron.

"Don't interrupt me." Kagami spat. "No, you're completely wrong. Believe it or not, but the residents of this vault aren't completely devoid of intelligence. Answer me this, how many families are in the vault right now?"

Yukari thought for a moment, "Twelve."

"Do the math then!" Her lilac haired oppressor yelled in her face, "That's enough of a gene pool for about two or three more generations before you're forced to start inbreeding. Also did you ever read those five or so reports I sent you on how the life support systems here are slowly failing?"

Overseer Takara exploded into tears, Kagami let her go and she slumped to the ground at her feet, "Oh god you're right, I kept thinking that we'd all be safe in here forever but we're all living on borrowed time. Please give me another chance I promise I'll fix everything, I'll even open the vault for trade to the outside world, and we can expand from there."

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear." Kagami calmly replied and left the office. She made her way into the atrium where Inori was talking with Konata and Miyuki.

"Where did you go? I looked all over for you!" Konata cried out, looking heavily relieved. She heard what Matsuri was done, and was worried about her friend. Kagami made her way down a flight of stairs to regroup with the others.

"Don't worry Miyuki, your mother is going to fix everything; we had a very heart-to-heart discussion." Kagami informed her and began walking towards the exit.

"Wait Kagami where are you going?" Konata asked, and ran to catch up with her.

"Don't know." She shrugged

"What do you mean you don't know!?"

Kagami turned to face her, "Listen, I think I need to take some time and go off on my own for awhile. Try new things you know?"

Konata stared at her curiously. "No, no I don't know."

She ignored her and walked back over to Miyuki, "Sorry I couldn't have stayed longer; I promise I'll be back later though. Pass that message onto my mother."

"Please don't leave again Kagami-san, we can all live here again and it will be just like it was before." Miyuki pleaded.

Kagami shook her head, "No, it can't ever be the same again. I might come back here again when everything is over." She paused for a moment choosing her next words carefully. "I just can't let Tsukasa's sacrifice be in vain, until I'm needed back to help with Project Purity I'm gonna explore the wastes a bit. See how I fare."

Konata had briefed Miyuki with everything that had happened, the fact that Tsukasa was gone hadn't quite kicked into Miyuki's heart yet, and it didn't quite seem possible. She grabbed Kagami and hugged her tight. "Whatever you do, just be safe."

Kagami said nothing and left everyone behind; she couldn't bare to show her face around everyone she had grown up with. At least she was able to talk some sense into the Overseer and possibly set things straight. Now she would go out into the wastes to do some soul searching. No more doing pointless errands for people too lazy and incompetent to do it themselves, no more being pushed around by people with unwarranted self-importance. The first thing she would need is a home or place to stay, the Citadel was nice but not quite she was looking for. Once or twice she had heard of a place called Tenpenny Tower where esteemed people looking to escape the wastes lived. Maybe they had a vacant room.

**ALONE**

A week passed with no sign of Kagami. Konata sat alone at Misao's place spping her Nuka-Cola Quantum, barely tasting it. She had never felt as alone as she did now, as much as she would have liked to stay with Miyuki and clean up the vault, she knew that was impossible. Too many people blamed her for what happened and conflict would no doubt ensue, she would have gladly helped the Brotherhood retrieve a GECK, but they were still struggling just trying to find one.

A million worries floated around in her head about Kagami, she didn't quite think she was dead though. Something about the look she had given her before leaving haunted her, the way she worded her reasons for leaving just seemed wrong.

The radio was on in the background and Konata had barely been paying attention until an interesting broadcast from Three Dog started playing. "Special Report! Da da dum dum, da da da dum dum! This just in- The kid from Vault 101 isn't just and Urban Myth! Oh she's real alright."

_Wait which one of us is he talking about? _Konata wondered, or why he was talking about any of them at all.

"Who says you can't go home again, huh? The kid from Vault 101 did, but it looks like the prodigal daughter's return didn't last all that long. She was seen coming OUT of the vault, AGAIN, and headed God knows where. Don't let the revolving door hit you on the ass on the way out…"

_Who saw me leaving? _Konata wondered some more.

She woke up bright and early the next day, after another night of staying at Yui's store. That day she planned to go back to the Citadel and either try to make herself useful or go through the recruits training program just to kill time and sharpen her skills. As she was walking out after saying good bye from to cousin, she heard the radio again.

"You don't want to believe it, I know. That kid from Vault 101, she can't be real. She's just some creepy Urban Superstition, right? Wrong." That broadcast stopped her tracks. What was Three Dog doing talking about her again, and since when she was a creepy urban superstition?

"Hey, remember those down-on-their-luck Ghouls who wanted to shared the luxury accommodations at the fancy shmancy Tenpenny Tower? Looks like that dream has died on the vine. You see, those hapless, homeless irradiated rejects have all been brutally slaughtered in their temporary digs in the tunnels of Warrington Station, The butcher-at-large? Yep, you guessed it- None other than the kid from Vault 101. Nice going, scumbag."

_Wait a second I didn't kill any ghouls! _Konata panicked briefly, someone was sending Three Dog false information. _No, wait he's not talking about me... It couldn't be…Kagami._

**SEPARATE WAYS**

So here ends chapter 14. You all may have noticed that I've changed some things in the story of Fallout 3 a bit. For one Overseer Yukari is a lot less insane than Overseer Alfonso (I THINK that was his name). That among other things, beyond creative expression I do have a reason for subtle changes like that. I believe it makes the story more interesting to Fallout veterans, I think that at least half the Fallout fanfics are boring because it sticks to the plot way too much. Reading about a character doing the exact same things from the game isn't all that exciting even if it with Lucky Star characters, so that's why I like it mix it up a little.

The title for this chapter was taken from the song also titled "Somewhat Damaged" by Nine Inch Nails, the lyrics really don't have anything with the story I just found the title fitting. If you want a lyrically fitting song listen to A Tout Le Monde by Megadeth since it was major inspiration for chapter 13. Speaking of music, Dethwater isn't a real album sadly.

Fun fact, the titles that Three Dog gives Konata and Kagami in his radio broadcast are those that he gives characters with neutral and evil karma at level 15. Completely random but my respect for Kagami tripled today when I was replaying Fallout 3, the sniper in Minetown, Arkansas, managed to take me out in one shot when I still had a decent amount of health. Got to hand it to her for surviving that.

As some of you may have noticed that stupid little personification of Kagami's thought was blatant rip-off of the first episode of Elfen Lied.


	16. The Coldest Winter

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 15- THE COLDEST WINTER**

An invisible force of tension fell across the Capital Wasteland; it left a strange almost surreal atmosphere. Like the feeling one gets after finally finishing a long and engaging task, that feeling they get when they sit back and say. "Well now what?"As the days became shorter and December crept on, people were left with this strange anticipation, like they knew something was going to happen. Misao Kusakabe felt this way the most out of anyone, she couldn't explain, and with her limited vocabulary she only managed to deftly confuse her friend Ayano.

"Don't 'cha just feel like something big is gonna happen?" She asked Ayano again.

"Sorry I don't quite understand what you mean." The orange haired girl replied, smiling nervously.

"I dunno it's just making me feel really restless, anyways have you been listening to the radio lately?" Misao asked, changing the conversation.

"No I haven't, why?" Ayano replied, neither of the two radio stations particularly interested her. There used to be another station where a woman played a violin and did a wonderful _Moonlight Sonata_ but it had disappeared a few months ago.

"You remember Hiiragi right?" Ayano nodded and let her continue, "Well according to what's-his-face at GNR this girl is starting to get into some pretty bad stuff, apparently she killed a whole bunch of ghouls just for wanting to live at Tenpenny Tower."

"That's terrible!" Ayano gasped, she was lucky that her coworker, Gob, who was a ghoul himself, wasn't around to hear that. Like many she wasn't exactly fond of ghouls, but she had enough compassion to think they deserved the same fundamental rights as everyone else.

"What's worse is Tenpenny himself gave her a suite for it!" Misao added. She thought that Alistair Tenpenny must be really uptight to reward someone for killing people just because they were a nuisance.

**A MATTER OF OPINION**

In her opinion the whole "killing innocent ghouls" thing had been blown way out of proportion. Those ghouls were not innocent; Kagami had found proof that they were gathering feral ghouls to lead an attack from the sewers below. She had saved lives and still the media branded her a killer. If they wanted to get popularity by exploiting killers then she'd give them a killer alright.

She absent mindedly tossed a rubber ball into the ceiling above over and over again. In the background _Spirit of the Radio by Rush _was playing quietly. The suite was definitely worth the negative publicity, considering that she was now laying on the most comfortable bed she had been on in over a month. The air around her had a strange feeling, she felt like she should be out doing something. Anything.

Eventually that feeling of restlessness became to over powering for Kagami to handle. She leapt to her feet and turned off the jukebox in her home with a degree of sadness, _Under a Glass Moon _by _Dream Theater _had just started playing, and she liked that song.

Kagami didn't know what she wanted to do, just that she wanted to do something. She looked around her suite; there was a desk, a bed and a jukebox and nothing else. _This place could use an artist's touch _she thought while crossing her arms. Sprucing up the place would a productive use of time she figured; in fact she could possibly set up her own science lab in the space that the suite had to offer. However, that kind of stuff cost caps, considering a single microfusion battery was well over a hundred caps the stuff she wanted would no doubt be in the thousands.

_Now where am I supposed to get thousands of caps for this half-assed idea of mine? I suppose I could work as a mercenary, Minami and her group have all kinds of things and they work as mercenaries half the time. Yeah I could be a gun for hire for a little bit, at least until the GECK is located. Then I'll go get that and personally shoot my way into Project Purity and finish what we started. Okay, now to just find someone who needs some killin's done. Maybe not just killing, I used to be the head engineer, there's going to be something someone needs fixing. God look at me jumping straight to violence._

Yes, it was a good plan. At that moment she wondered what Konata was up to, no doubt sulking. Kagami figured that was the difference between the two of them, Konata sat back and took what ever life threw at her. Kagami on the other hand was taking hold of her destiny and making it her own, it saddened her to think that Konata would more than likely end up being the Brotherhood of Steel's tool.

She had a long in depth talk with Ayano about the Brotherhood; Kagami had wondered why she had quit.

"_I quit because everything we used to stand for was corrupted and perverted by Elder Lyons_." Ayano had told her.

"_Excuse my ignorance but what exactly does the Brotherhood stand for?" _Kagami had asked in reply.

"_Fair enough question. Originally our goal was to gather and preserve prewar technology, Lyons and his failure of a daughter Akira decided to engage on the impossible campaign against the Super Mutants of the D.C. ruins instead. I quit them and joined another faction called the Outcasts, we shared a lot of the same ideals but they were too much like the Enclave for their own good._"

That had been enough to sway Kagami's opinion of them into the negative spectrum. It seemed that every technology seeking group had become bastardized, the Brotherhood was too busy playing Hero to do what they had came there to do. The Enclave in theory was a great idea, however, people like Kuroi had turned it into something sinister while people like President Eden were content to just sit back and let it happen. Kagami had mixed opinions of Eden, he was a little delusional and out of touch with the wasteland but seemed to have good intentions, it really made her wonder what the Enclave would be like if Kuroi was no longer in power.

**TIME KILLING**

Every bone in Konata's tiny body ached; she had spent the day training with the recruits and was completely spent. It turned out she was actually quite good at what they did, she managed to get forty push-ups off before collapsing from exhaustion. Not those fake push-ups that some of the other recruits managed to get away, full arms at a 90 degree angle push-ups. That by itself wasn't anything to be bragging about, what she was really proud of was her marksmanship with an assault rifle. She had been able to get headshots on targets thirty meters away on multiple occasions.

After a long day of proving herself among her peers, it felt good to just collapse onto her bed. It hurt to see Kagami's empty bed; it looked like she had never left. On it was still the deep crimson robes she had borrowed, along with extra socks, and Tsukasa's yellow ribbon.

With trembling hands Konata picked up Tsukasa's ribbon and just stared at it. It looked so out of place without it being tied into a knot around her head, the thing looked frayed and the edged were torn and worn from years of wear and tear. Still it was hard to believe she was gone even five weeks later.

Recounting all the events that had happened in the past month caused something in her to explode. Not only was she now an orphan but she had lost her two best friends and she wasn't allowed to see the third, although Kagami was still alive and doing fine it felt like she might as well be dead. Konata didn't know what she had done to make Kagami want nothing to do with her, but it hurt so much. She felt responsible because she had watched Kagami spiral downward and didn't realize it was even happening. Now she was continually hearing radio broadcasts from Three Dog who had having a field day with all these juicy news reports on her.

From a logical standpoint Konata guessed it made sense that Three Dog, who was using the power of speech to help people, would report on her. There were various reports of her doing things like robbing random wastelanders and arbitrarily shooting people in the wastes on sight.

Konata wanted so much to find Kagami and find out the truth from her mouth. There was no way that the responsible, mature friend she had grown up with was now turning into the very kind of monster that she would often rant about when they first arrived in the waste. It just wasn't possible for her to stoop that kind of hypocrisy.

The song _I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire _by _The Ink Blots _had just finished playing on the radio and on queue Three Dog began one of his news broadcasts. "Yeah, you guessed it- time for another update on the Villain of the Wastes herself, that little bitch from Vault 101."

_Oh so she's the Villain of the Wastes now? _Konata thought with a hint of amusement, honestly she didn't know if she could bear to hear another one of her old friends wasteland exploits.

"Are you a worthless piece of human trash who'd like nothing better than to own another human being?" Three Dog began, Konata did not like where this was going. "Are you sick enough to think slavery is the best thing to happen to the Capital Wasteland since broiled mirelurk cake? Well you're in luck! Human bondage is here to stay, folks, thanks to that asshole from Vault 101 and her Slaver amigos. One small step backwards for man, one giant evolutionary rewind for mankind."

Konata felt her lower lip trembling, Kagami dealing with slavers? No, that wasn't possible at all; Kagami wouldn't ever do anything that sinister under any circumstance. She had to find her and get the actual truth; Three Dog had to have gotten his story wrong or something!

Sadly that endeavor had to wait until later, since she was just too tired to move a muscle, all she could was cry herself to sleep.

**HAPPIER VISIONS**

That night she had one of her recurring dreams, maybe recurring wasn't the correct term but it was essentially the same dream with a few variations. This time it was extraordinarily different.

She was walking in grassy field that stretched in all directions endlessly. Instead of the worn black t-shirt and khaki pants she had gone to bed in she was now wearing a comfortable yellow sundress.

Konata instantly spotted a lone figure standing not to far off from her, she recognized this person instantly. The long flowing blue hair and white dress gave it away. Konata sprinted to meet this translucent specter.

"Mom!" Konata cried and tried to throw her arms around her, like every other time had this dream the result was still the same, she fell right through her on the ground below.

Kanata looked down at her daughter and shed a single tear. "Mom tell me what I have to do, I want to help finish your and Dad's dream, but I don't think there's anything I can do anymore." Konata pleaded, she wasn't expecting any reply, only once when she had this dream had her mother spoken back.

"Don't ever think there is nothing you can do." Kanata said, shaking her head. When her head shook her dress swayed and Konata could briefly see her interesting placed tribal tattoos.

"But Mom, I'm not tech savvy enough to find the GECK like you and dad wanted, and I know the Brotherhood will just go and get themselves." Konata replied, glumly staring at the ground the whole time.

Kanata placed an incorporeal hand on her daughters shoulder and looked her in the eye, "Please don't give up hope, and I know things will always seem dark, but I can promise you that in the end everything will fall into place for the better."

Konata thought about that for a moment, "What did you do when things seemed impossible?"

"I had So-kun and others for support through the hardest parts along with the best. If I'm not mistaken you have someone to hold onto as well." She replied, referring to Kagami.

"Not anymore, I think Kagami hates me." Konata said, she honestly believed that now.

"I doubt that's the case dear, I'm sure she loves you as much as you love her. She just doesn't realize it yet."

**ABRUPT AWAKENING**

Unlike most movies where the protagonist's parent slowly fades away from them, Konata's dream ended abruptly and suddenly. Someone knocking on the door had woken her up.

"Come in." She answered sleepily. A recruit in slim metal recon armor entered the small room.

"Visitors in the courtyard for you ma'am." He told her and slipped away. Konata checked her Pip-Boy and saw that it was nearly two in the morning. Only one person she knew of ventured around this late at night.

She stumbled sleepily through the halls of the Citadel to the large open circular court yard, where dozens of shooting ranges and obstacle courses were set up. In the dark she could see two slender figures with a substantial height difference.

"Onee-chan!" She shorter one cried out and ran up to Konata, to her surprise it turned out to be Yutaka, Minami soon followed. In the dark Konata had to remind herself that Minami was indeed a woman. Under the her duster, all of Minami's curves were effectively hidden. Only the softness of her face gave an indication of her gender.

"What are you two doing here?" Konata asked sleepily, secretly she was hoping it would be Kagami.

"We heard what happened at the Jefferson Memorial and found out you were looking for a GECK." Minami told her. "The Family and I did a bit searching around in the old Vault-Tec headquarters, and found out there's still one at Vault 87."

"What, really!?" Konata cheered in surprise. "We have to tell everyone first thing tomorrow."

Minami nodded in agreement and was glad she could do her part to take those Enclave bastards down.

**WHICH SIDE, WHOSE SIDE, THEIR SIDE, WE DON'T KNOW**

In the far northwest of the Capital Wasteland in the not-so-secret Enclave base, Raven Rock, other events were unfolding.

"The patient has been reluctant to aid us, we believe it's because she doesn't know anything." The Enclave doctor updated, "We followed Eden's 'Comfortably Ignorant' policy and she believes that her sister and other companion were killed along with Dr. Izumi."

"Good work." Kuroi complimented, "May I see the subject herself?"

"Yes, but please use some discretion. She has almost no memory of the events that transpired at the Jefferson Memorial, you've read the report on what she believes happened. I feel the need to stress the importance of discretion once again, also keep in mind she has the mindset of an early child." The doctor informed and opened the door into the spare medical room that they were keeping the patient in.

Nanako entered the room and saw the small girl sitting in the center of the room playing a very scratched up Gameboy console. "Hello Tsukasa, my name is Colonel Nanako Kuroi but you can just call me Nana-chan." She introduced herself in the kindest voice she could muster.

Something in Tsukasa's azure eyes went blank, like she had a quick flashback, but quickly faded away, "H-have we met?" She asked nervously.

"Oh yeah, I was there when your friend's father graciously handed over Project Purity to us." Kuroi replied, not bothering to lie about that detail. "I was the one who ordered them to save you after the shrapnel damaged your leg, they thought you would rebel like your sister and friend did, but I could tell you're a nice girl." The lie they were trying to enforce was that there had been an explosion, which had damaged Tsukasa's leg, and that the other two girls had been killed trying to fight the Enclave.

"I…I think I remember you." Tsukasa said, trying hard to remember, "I'm sorry for being so blunt about this but what are you going to do with me?"

"You were a scientist in Dr. Tamura's team right? Well we want you to help us bring clean water to the rest of America." Kuroi told her, once again not exactly lying.

"I can still help people you mean?" Tsukasa asked excitedly. "I'll be honestly I don't know all that much, but I'll do my best!"

"That's all we're asking, dear." Kuroi smiled, trying to sound and look as supportive as possible.

"Can I ask another question?" The lilac haired girl asked again, her happy demeanor quickly diminished.

"Anything."

Tsukasa took a deep breath; tears were slowly forming in her eyes. "Why did Onee-chan and Kona-chan have to die?"

Kuroi had been dreading that question, but she had an answer thought up, "I know it's hard to hear but I'm not going to lie to you. We offered them a chance to surrender and help us finish Project Purity but Dr. Izumi's pointless rebelling inspired them to do the same. They attacked us and we were forced to respond with force in self defense. I'm really sorry to tell you that. You don't hate us do you?" She said the last sentence with mock worry.

Tsukasa sniffled a few times and wiped tears from her eyes, "No, anyone would have done the same thing in that situation."

"Having a strong sense of empathy is a gift, cherish it." Nanako told her, "I would love to stay and chat more but I'm in charge in here so I have a lot of work to do."

"Oh, okay, are you leaving now?" Tsukasa asked looking disappointed; Nana-chan was the only person who had been nice to her so far. No one had been mean; they had just poked and prodded her with question after question.

Nanako saw the look of disappointment in her eyes, "Hey why don't I let you wear my coat for awhile since all you have on is a hospital dress, you know as a sign of friendship."

Tsukasa gladly took it and thanked her; beside the loose hospital gown she was naked. "Will we be able to talk again?"

"I'll stop by and see how you're doing when I get the chance." Kuroi said, not expecting to actually do that; still if it motivated her into helping them then it was worth it.

Tsukasa felt a lot better than she had since she had woken up in Raven Rock. The trench coat was several sizes to big but was warm and smelled like Nana-chan and that had been the most humanizing thing she experienced since she arrived. She grabbed her cane and hoisted herself into the hospital bed to continue her game; the shrapnel from the explosion had shattered her pelvis bone making it impossible to walk unassisted.

In reality the bullet that had hit her had been an explosive round and pulverized the bone and damaged the organs around it, effectively making her permanently infertile.

**SEVERING THE LAST TIE**

The following day at the Citadel Sentinel Minoru Shiraishi had called a meeting in the courtyard with every available unit.

"The good news is we have located a GECK!" He called through his microphone; a wave of applause has followed this. "The problem is it's in Vault 87, as some of you may know the Vault the worse radiation pocket in the Capital Wasteland surrounding it, even with our most protective gear anyone approaching it has died within minutes. So until we can find a way past that there's nothing we can do as of now."

Konata stood there stupefied; once again another obstacle had thrown itself in their way. She slumped back to her room; however, she was greeted with a pleasant surprise.

Sometime during the day when she was taking a training course in power armor use and Minoru's speech, Kagami had returned.

She failed to hide her excitement. "Kagami, I was so worried about you, where have you been!?"

"Just kinda hanging around." Kagami shrugged, "Got my own place now, I actually just came back to grab the rest of my thing. You're welcome to come along with me if you want."

Konata's heart soared after hearing that, Kagami _did _still want to be with her. "I'll have to consider it." She replied, smiling, "Did you hear they found a GECK?"

"Yeah, hey Kagami, can I ask you something?" Konata said nervously, she wanted to get the truth about the radio.

"Shoot."

"What Three Dog said, that…that wasn't true is it? I mean you didn't actually kill those ghouls and those people out in the wastes did you? And he was talking about someone else when he was talking about the slavers right?" Konata asked with a nervous laugh, of course Kagami didn't do that, it was defiantly a mix up or something.

Kagami's face distorted into an expression Konata had never seen before, it certainly didn't look like a happy face. "Just where do you get off judging me on things you weren't there to see, that's the kind of thing I would expect from Matsuri. I really thought you were above that ,Konata." She said, her voice was as cold as frost.

Konata looked her bewildered, "No, I'm not judging you I just want to know if it's true or not. I mean it isn't right, you wouldn't do that."

"Wouldn't do what? For your information those ghouls were planning on taking Tenpenny Tower by force, those wastelanders I 'murdered' would have killed me if I didn't take action first. And for your last question all I did was tip those slavers off!" Kagami screamed at her, "It's so typical that you instantly jump to conclusions like that, why are you all so quick to assume the worst in me?"

"I didn't assume anything, that's why I was asking." Konata replied calmly, she could tell by Kagami's dilated pupils she had taken Med-X not to long ago. It was strange, she thought that morphine made people happy. Not bitterly angry about anyone and everything.

Kagami ignored her, and sat down on her bed; a flash of yellow caught her eye near the foot of Konata's bed.

The flash of yellow that nearly ended their friendship completely. She looked at it curiously to see what it was; it turned out to be part of Tsukasa's ribbon. Kagami jumped up and picked up the yellow scrap. On Konata's bed, half buried by a pillow, were several other scraps. She gathered them up and looked at Konata, she was completely speechless.

"Oh yeah about that…" Konata stuttered. "I tried putting it on and it completely fell apart."

Kagami's hands began to shake; the vital statistics of her Pip-Boy were advising her to take her high blood pressure medicine. This was just too much for her to handle, the only material reminder of her sister was now in tatters because her "friend" just happened to get a little bored.

"Kagami I'm really sorry, it was an accident. I'll make it up to you I promise." Konata said on the verge of tears, she placed her hand on Kagami's shoulder. Kagami swiftly turned around and did something no one would have ever expected her to do.

In her brief time in the Citadel Kagami had sure to ask one of the Paladins in charge of training new recruits about that little move Ayano had pulled on Mr. Burke. Without thinking she used it on Konata in her blind rage, the palm of her fist jabbed into her neck. Konata made a choking noise and gracelessly collapsed on the ground.

She had never been this angry in her life; she came back with hopes of rebuilding her friendship with Konata after their falling out during the weeks following the Jefferson Memorial events. Apparently that just couldn't happen; as soon as she arrived Konata started accusing her of all sorts of crimes she had no knowledge about since Three Dog apparently had nothing better than do then talk about her. And now the only physical reminder of her sister was destroyed, she couldn't have controlled her anger if she wanted to.

"_Do you enjoy destroying my life little by little!?_" She screamed down at Konata. "_Or do you just like dragging everyone else down with you? If it weren't for you I'd be safe and sound in the Vault surrounded by family that loved me with everyone still alive, but no you just had to throw the problems of you and your family onto mine and look where it ended up!_" Konata looked up at her with hurt eyes; tears were running down her face from shock, pain, and loss.

Kagami stepped over her and quickly left the room. She walked into the courtyard; some people who had heard her screaming were now following her.

"Hey, Hiiragi where are you going?" Minoru, who had the misfortune of overhearing everything that had happened, asked. Maybe Three Dog wasn't so far off with his accusations of her being a heartless bitch.

"To find that GECK since I know none of you will do it yourself." She growled, "Don't try to stop me." Kagami knew that the radiation pocket was impossible to pass, but she'd find another way; Project Purity was the only thing worth living for since she had just severed the last tie to the only person who still cared about her.

No one spoke up or tried to stop her, she heard someone jogging to catch up with her. "I'm not going to try and stop you." It was Minami.

"Then what do you want?" She replied, her voice sounded strangely hollow in her ears.

"There's a place near Vault 87 called Little Lamplight Caverns, those caverns link up to vault. Be careful because that's where the Super Mutants home base is." Minami told her.

"I'll be back with the GECK." Kagami said to no one in particular and left into the wastes.

It had begun to snow.

**REFLECTION **

The snow fell on her head lightly, now that her rage had fallen away it brought with it dozens of other emotions.

"Oh God, what have I done?" She sniffled and wiped the tears out of her eyes. Kagami wanted so bad to go and take everything she said to Konata back, and tell her she loved her and how much she meant to her. But that was impossible; Konata no doubt hated her now, and for good reason.

If she managed to get the GECK then at least she managed to do something right, and if she died trying? Well that was just fine too.

**BUILDING FRUSTRATION**

Misao stared wide eyed at the TV she had paid so many caps to obtain and the PS3 console that she bought too. It was worth every cap though she thought, until crap like this happened.

_SONG FAILED- Through The Fire And Flames, Expert, 99%_

She stumbled to the radio at her bar, holding back tears, to see if music could cheer her up. Misao groaned as her curse continued to play itself out, since once again it was a news broadcast.

"So, just when you thought it was crazy enough out there…" Thee Dog began, Misao decided that if he talked about Hiiragi again, she was going to swallow a Rubix Cube. "…Here's an update on the kid from Vault 101 who fancies herself the Wasteland Destroyer."

Misao groaned and went to go look for her Rubix Cube.

"That kid from Vault 101, aka the Wanderer, has been spotted poking around some caves way out west. Makes perfect sense to me. The kid's had enough of the wild and wooly Wasteland, and is looking for another old vault to crawl into. Good luck with that my friend; only thing seen out in those parts is Yao Guai, Super Mutants, and some crazy mountain kids."

And if this was a movie/show/other medium that has sound, the song _Schism_ by _Tool _would play during the credits.


	17. Misao, Some Kind of Angel

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 16- MISAO, SOME KIND OF ANGEL**

Misao couldn't take it anymore; all she wanted were some toe-tapping tunes on the radio. That bastard Three Dog had stolen that liberty from her, to boycott she had turned the radio off. However, her saloon was a popular place and plenty people of wanted to listen to the radio. It didn't stay off long. She decided it was time for plan B to come into action. Misao unlocked her secret safe and retrieved her gauss rifle, several dozen microfusion cells and a _Def Leopard _Greatest Hits record on vinyl. Music would be played even if she had to carve a path in blood to do so.

Kagami, who was a lover of all impressive prewar technology (metaphorically of course, especially considering the vague definition of what technology could be considered, and there are quite a few raunchy prewar pieces of tech) would have had a nervous breakdown if she saw that Misao had somehow gotten her hands on a gauss rifle.

She didn't care if the some girl from Vault 101 was working with slavers, or was sick of the wooly wasteland, or formed the Republic of Kagami and was now accepting work visas so people could visit. All she wanted was background music to count her caps to, considering everything that happened throughout the wastes she didn't think that was an unreasonable request.

Ayano watched curiously as Misao started walking out with a rifle nearly as big as her on her back and an ammo belt filled up with batteries around her chest. "Where are you going Misa-chan?" was her question naturally.

Misao looked back at her with determined amber eyes and gave her a dead serious look that contrasted her normal demeanor in an almost sickening way, "Bravery calls my name, Minegishi, like the sound of the wind in the night." Ayano stumbled back and gave her a startled look, instead of her normal high pitched cat like voice she had replied with a darker monotone voice not unlike Minami's.

"Be back later~" She sang with her voice back to normal and skipped off.

**SPEAKING OF MINAMI…**

She and Yutaka left the Citadel quickly after informing Kagami about the whereabouts of the GECK, she had planned on telling Elder Lyons, Minoru (but certainly not Akira) about that but she never had the chance to get close to them. Kagami had just been a victim of circumstance. It didn't matter to Minami, she would give Kagami two weeks. If she hadn't gotten it by then, Minami would step in and take care of it.

Minami had learned many things in the Enclave, the one thing that stuck with her the most was "you don't always have to walk". She had learned that some prewar vehicles could be refurbished with a bit of work, motorcycles turned out to be the easiest. Most of the metal parts had to be replaced or just reinforced, but other than they weren't that difficult to whip back into shape, not to mention they didn't run on fission or nuclear power that had the possibility of exploding on the user. Despite the resource crisis before the war and the growth of fission and nuclear power, there were still quite a few gas stations around with their black gold laying dormant for anyone who decided to stop by and excavate.

Yutaka, who up to the point where she met Minami had never ridden any sort of vehicle, hated riding Minami's motorcycle. It was fast, loud, and Minami liked skidding around 90 degree hairpin turns too much for her liking. Still it turned a several hour hike into a ten minute ride, so she couldn't complain too much.

"Are you ready to go?" Iwasaki asked the tiny girl and handed her a pair of goggles, no helmets, in fact if it weren't for the dust Minami wouldn't have even worn goggles. She had crashed a few times and not once did she manage to hurt her head, just a few broken bones and scrapes.

"I-I think so…" Yutaka replied nervously and slipped the goggles over her head. Minami nodded and hopped onto the bike, the tiny girl reluctantly slid on over the back behind her. She wrapped her arms around the tall green haired girl's waste, and buried her head into her back.

She squeaked in surprise when the bike started with a thunderous roar, almost as if to mock her fear Minami pulled the front wheel of the motorcycle back and did a wheelie for a solid thirty meters. Yutaka was screaming the whole time, it wasn't a fearful screaming but a thrill ride sort of scream, to her surprise Minami was actually…_laughing_.

Then Yutaka's most hated part of the ride came up, after a minute or two of zooming through the ruins, without warning Minami turned 180 degrees and drove full speed the other direction. In any other circumstance Yutaka would have reminded her that what she was about to do had been the direct cause of all her accidents. It was much too loud for her to give any warnings now though.

The bike sped down a fight of stairs into a subway station, Yutaka cringed as Minami made several sharp turns before ending up zooming down the blackened subway tunnels. After only a few minutes of smooth driving with several turns here and there they were back at the Meresti Station, where the Family was had made their home.

Minami parked the bike in the shadows where it was near invisible. She looked around for a moment, "That's odd…"

"What's odd?" Yutaka asked, she was overfilled with joy to be on nonmoving land again.

"Everyone could here us coming from a mile away, Cherry isn't here to greet us though." Minami pointed out. True enough the massive white dog wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Maybe she went out to find other doggies to play with?" Yutaka suggested, her knowledge of the wastes was sketchy at best. Most dogs were vicious feral things that attacked other dogs that weren't in their pack.

Minami shrugged knowing that wasn't the case. "Maybe, it's late we should be going to bed." It was around noon which by the Families nocturnal standards was late. She noticed Yutaka looking at her nervously and playing with her fingers. "Is something wrong?"

"No, well kind of…" The frail girl replied quietly, "It's kind of embarrassing but I keep having these really scary dreams, and I was wondering if I could…"

"Yes you may." Minami said, finishing her question. This wasn't the first time Yutaka had asked to sleep in the same bed as her; although she would never admit it Minami gladly welcomed the extra body. She had spent her teenage years wrapped in loneliness and fear of her unnatural hunger for human blood, she would be damned if Yutaka, this sweet caring girl, would suffer through the same thing.

**MISAO MAKES A FRIEND**

Misao climbed over another hill and realized she was going to complete wrong direction, the GNR studios were in the D.C. Ruins which made up the southeast portion of the Capital Wastes. She was heading north. Misao sighed and used the color of her shirt to wipe sweat off of her face, it wasn't hot out but she had been walking for hours. Her plain white shirt clung to her body like a second skin, her breasts were openly exposed through the thin white fabric.

She was looking down at an old scrap yard, amongst the old rusted remains of cars, she could hear the sounds of some kind of struggle going. Complete with shouts and gunfire.

From further inspection, she realized that some raiders were up against something that was apparently kicking their ass. _The enemy of my enemy is my friend or something _she remembered and readied her gauss rifle. One raider stumbled into view from another column of destroyed cars, with a deafening _BAM! _Misao fired her weapon at him. For a brief second there was a displacement blur around him and then he was torn literally in half from the force of the 2mm round.

"And just what the fuck was that!" Someone out of view cried, another raider in his scrap metal armor ran to see what was up. He met the same fate as his late friend and had his head and most of his torso blown away.

Misao cautiously looked around a bit more for anymore signs of opposition, all she found were a few more dead raiders. She shrugged and headed south for the ruins of D.C. behind her on the pavement she heard a light pitter-patter.

"Hmm, something seems to be following me." She mused out loud and turned around, sure enough there was a big white dog strolling merrily along with her. As compared to other dogs she had previously met, this one made no effort to eat her. In Misao's eyes, there was no greater sign of friendship then not trying to eat someone, for example- She and Ayano got along great, and not _once _had Ayano tried to chew her throat out or grind her into a meat product. Misao occasionally believed that she may be planning it, but she would deal with that problem when she came to it.

"So you're not going to eat me, huh?" Misao asked the dog cocked its head in confusion. It didn't know that command. Misao looked down at the dog's collar which read "Cherry", _Strange, she sure doesn't look like a Cherry, I would know_.

Misao remembered her mission, there was no time to be socializing with Cherry's now. She turned around and forced her self to keep walking, still the pitter-patter of paws was still following her, "You're still following me?"

"_Bark!_" Cherry replied after a moment of deep thinking.

"Hmm, I suppose I could use a traveling companion. That'll do dog, that'll do." Misao said and patted the dog on its head; Cherry barked and wagged her tail in reply.

"So Dog-wipe, any idea how to get to Galaxy News Radio?" The fanged girl asked after realizing she had absolutely no idea where she was going. Cherry yipped excitedly and trotted towards the direction of the ruins. Misao looked at her in surprise; this dog certainly was proving itself useful.

And with that a friendship was born…

**KONATA ON THE WARPATH**

Konata woke up the following morning feeling surprisingly refreshed, like a new woman. Kagami's violent explosion yesterday was still fresh in her mind but she was determined to get past it. It had certainly caused her a great deal of pain but after a full nights rest it seemed almost abstract now. She was empathetic in her own way and knew that Kagami hadn't had meant half the things she had said, if Kagami came back wanting to talk then she would listen, if she didn't…well then she would just have to move on. Konata figured her best option to stay emotionally stable was just not to think about it, one thought would lead to another and open up a flood gate of emotions, so she was determined to avoid it.

Despite everything Kagami had said and done to her she wasn't going to stoop to having a grudge, in a strange way she was still her friend and she still loved her. Konata was confident in her use of the word love now, only with love could you still care for someone who physically harmed you and admitted their contempt through a series of verbal abuses.

If her former best friend hated her then there was nothing to do but redeem herself in Kagami's eyes. Wallowing in despair or holding a grudge wasn't the answer, Konata decided that her best chance of redemption was to show that she wasn't just an obstacle in Kagami's life.

As soon as she was up again she signed up to join a group of soldiers going to reinforce the GNR building against continued Super Mutant attacks, this would be her chance meet Three Dog. His news reports were completely biased and not a single one was from a primary source, no one knew her motives so they were force to guess. Given the circumstances of the wastes her motives were assumed to be "pointless bloodshed and or extortion".

Luckily she had managed to catch the outgoing patrol and join them at the last second, they were instantly reluctant to take along a newcomer but had heard the exploits of the late Sojiro's daughter, and knew she wasn't quite as green as they came. Patrolling with the Brotherhood certainly wasn't as exciting as she had pictured it, just strolling along through the wastes. The banks of the Potomac were the safest part of the ruins, west of the river was almost completely dominated by Super Mutants, while the east was a constant battle between the Brotherhood and Mutants with the occasional Enclave patrol thrown in to just to fuck up everyone's day.

Konata attempted to include herself in the random banter of the two Paladins accompanying them; the two of them had been in the Brotherhood awhile and were laughing about old stories about failworthy recruits and stupid raiders they had killed. No opportunity presented itself for her to add to the conversation. When any action presented itself her seniors dispatched the threat almost instantly.

Even in her recon armor she was absolutely freezing, the temperature had dropped into the low twenties causing her to regret coming along even more, luckily the Brotherhood knew their way around the ruins and cut the time it would have taken her Kagami by nearly 3/4ths. Konata was forced to admire their effectiveness.

The group eventually made their way to a burnt out school, Konata vaguely remembered meeting Akira there, she could almost see the subway access her and Kagami had taken to get there. It filled her with a strange nostalgia, not at all for the events but for the mindset, back then they were had a clear goal and a clear path to follow. Now here she was alone stumbling by day to day with no real plan for her life, Project Purity was so far off that it didn't really seem like something to look forwards to anymore.

Around the school another group of Brotherhood soldiers were dragging Super Mutant corpses into a pile for burning, four out of the twelve of them were laying against the walls of the school in pools of blood. Their chests were rising up and down in unsteady hitches, wounded but still alive.

"Oh man, are we glad to see you!" An initiate from the other group cried out, "I think we got them all but we can't be sure, are you the reinforcements?"

"Not for your station we're not." Paladin Honduras, the squad leader for Konata's group answered, he inspected the almost four dozen Super Mutant bodies splayed across the road and school, "You guys managed to do all of this with only four wounded?"

"No sir! We had been pinned down for hours then some… some kind of angel with a big white dog came and killed pretty much all of them single handedly with some kind of sniper rifle that could have only been forged by Jesus himself. She had this beautiful tanned skin and golden eyes, oh man she'll be in my dreams tonight. " The initiate explained excitedly, Konata glared at him for signs of drug use and didn't see any tell-tale signs.

"We'll keep that in mind…" Honduras replied not looking impressed one bit, "Alright let's keep moving!" He signaled for the squad to follow him.

It didn't take long for them to rendezvous with the GNR building, and the other Brotherhood members defending it. Since Konata's last visit they had done a much better job at keeping the Mutants away from it, not to mention they had help from some celestial messenger of death apparently.

Konata approached Honduras and tried to remember the technical term for what she was going to ask, "Uh, sir…permission to be excused from duty?"

"Yeah I know why you came along, permission granted initiate." He replied and waved her off. She nodded in thanks and entered the large building that Three Dog comfortably broadcasted news and music.

She made her way straight for the elevator that took her up to the recording studio but was halted by a very formal looking woman. "Sorry you'll have to wait in the lobby with everyone else looking to get an audience with Three Dog."

Konata trudged to the lobby and saw three people sitting on a long bench like people waiting for their dentist appointments. Some random wastelander, a red haired woman with a leather duster not unlike Minami's and…

"Misao?" Konata said in surprise, sure enough the tan, fanged girl was sitting there with a big fluffy white dog, and a particularly large black sniper rifle.

**THIEF AND LIAR**

Kuroi was genuinely surprised at how extraordinarily well everything had turned out. Not only had the take over of the Jefferson Memorial gone nearly flawlessly, now one of the head researchers was now gladly supplying them information. It hadn't had taken much to get the lilac haired girl to open up and start sharing information, despite how modest Tsukasa was, she had a good amount of useful information. She actually knew how to correctly work a GECK. When Kuroi asked how she had known that Tsukasa cheerfully explained to her how she had grown up in a vault, and she learned about the proper handling and use of them on her own time once. She had even told Kuroi how to find Vault 101, which would be a goldmine of prewar technology and scientific data.

"…then after that onee-chan hit me in the head with the ball _again_!" Tsukasa said continuing her story of an apparently legendary dodge ball game atop Rivet City. Kuroi chuckled pretending her story was interesting and moved her knight on the chessboard effectively putting Tsukasa in checkmate again.

"Checkmate." Kuroi said with a grin, it was nice to find someone who didn't avoid playing chess with her. Everyone else was so sick of losing that they no longer even humored her.

"I lost again?" Tsukasa exclaimed in surprise, she was so sure that she was going to win this one. "Wow Nana-chan you sure are good at this game."

"Thank you very much." Nanako said with a bow, she was going to say something else but a very flustered officer burst into the room with a handful of papers. The officer was a slim man who had glasses, and thick, dark, shoulder length hair that was over regulation length; just like Kuroi's.

"Excuse me Colonel!" The officer said and saluted, Kuroi had for some reason given her long coat to the Hiiragi girl. Hiiragi, for some reason unbeknownst to him or any other one at Raven Rock, had taken a liking to Colonel Nanako "Power-Abuser" Kuroi. "Ahem, our sources have found the location a still working GECK."

Kuroi jumped up instantly, "Send word to prepare my Vertibird immediately, I want my best contingent of Hellfire Troops with me."

"Its location has been confirmed to be at Vault 87." The officer explained, "Previously thought to be inaccessible it is now available to us. The Brotherhood dog Ka-" He saw Tsukasa and quickly changed his wording, "You-know-who, found a way in through Little Lamplight Caverns, all we have to do is follow her there."

"Tsukasa-san may I have my coat back? I need to go somewhere for a little bit." Kuroi said with a genuine smile. Tsukasa gladly gave it back to her and felt a tinge of disappointment watching Kuroi leave without giving her a second glance.

**UNLIKELY MEETING**

"So out of every single wasteland problem that no doubt like affects you and your life in some way, you choose this one to go all proactive about?" Konata asked, trying to make sense of the fanged girl's quest.

"Well ever since that incident I had at Fort Constantine, I decided to live a comfortable life and Three Dog spamming my airwaves with news on stuff I don't care about certainly isn't aiding my cause." Misao said and crossed her arms. Cherry huffed and copied her expression.

"One other question." Konata said, "Are you completely and utterly insane?"

Misao jumped back like she was hurt, Cherry did the same, "So cold…why are you so cold?"

Konata looked at her with emerald eyes that were devoid of any sense of patience, "I'll admit though, I am on your side. I want Three Dog to stop broadcasting about Kagami too."

"It's good to see a fellow freedom fighter; hmm I think I have an idea…" Misao said to herself and leaned back, cracking her knuckles loudly. "I remember that you're dad was a really smarty pants and a closet pedophile, if you're anything like that then I think we should join up."

"Join up and do what?" Konata asked, as far as she knew the two of them had absolutely no common goals. "Wait… how old are you anyways?"

Misao shrugged nonchalantly, "Only Tsumugi Kusakabe knows that and she's been gone a long time. Anyways, why we should join up… I dunno, but it's definitely a good idea!"

"I'm going to have to turn you down on that offer chief." Konata said and got up to meet Three Dog and talk to him.

**CONFRONTATION**

"Izumi! What's happenin' sister?" Three Dog shouted in his radio voice and slapped Konata on the shoulder, he certainly was not expecting her to stop in and visit.

"I want you to stop talking about Kagami on the radio." Konata said sternly and crossed her arms.

"Me too!" Misao shouted behind her, Konata swore under her breath.

Three Dog looked at them, behind his sunglasses his expression was impossible to read, "Now in all my years in this radio gig I have never had a problem with censorship, I take it you're friends with her?"

Konata was about to calmly explain her view point before Misao shouted, "No I don't like her at all; I just want you to play more music. I even brought my own record!" With that Misao shoved her vinyl record into Three Dog's hands.

"I can't just stop my news segments, the people have to know what's going in the wild wastes you know? But if you want I'll play this in with my normal repertoire." He replied and placed the record on his desk. "Something you wanted to say Izumi?"

Konata sighed loudly, "No, Misao already made her point." She realized this was fates way of telling her not to intervene with affairs that had to do with Kagami, Misao had been sent as messenger from up above.

"Why are you looking so sad?" Misao asked after reading Konata's expression.

"Nothing you'd understand." She replied as they were walking out. "I'm going back to the Citadel, I'll see you later."

"The Citadel!? You can't go there, it's boring." Misao shouted and bopped Konata on the head "Why don't you come back to Megaton with me and Cherry-chan, we can stay up all night with Yui and Ayano, and tell stories, and get wasted, then we'll play truth or dare and I'll dare you to do all kinds of fun things, like make out with Ayano while naked!"

"Isn't that Minami's dog?" Konata asked, pointing at Cherry who was happily carrying a Super Mutant femur with her.

"It _was _Minami's dog." Misao clarified, "Moving away from the touchy aspect of pet ownership, you want to come back to Megaton and just hang out with us?"

Konata thought about it, it definitely was one way to get her mind off of Kagami, and she hadn't had any fun in weeks. "I guess, but it better be fun!"

Misao threw a tanned arm around Konata's shoulder, "It'll be fun I promise."

That night Konata, Misao, Ayano, and Yui were sitting on the floor of Misao's saloon after she had kicked all the patrons out. They were passing a bottle of scotch around and joking about all sorts of things and all around having a good time.

This being Konata's first time drinking, she was intoxicated quickly without warning. All surviving shreds of reason screamed for her to stop but she kept taking sip after sip while listening to Misao chatter on about all her wasteland adventures that more than likely never happened.

**FORESHADOWING TO THE POINT OF SPOILING**

Tsukasa woke up early the next morning and stumbled into Raven Rock's mess room, she was glad that they considered her one of them and gave her the same access to the place as they did for all other scientists. She sat there sipping coffee contemplating things like the value of life and suicide, her world had been completely shattered and here she was aiding the people who had contributed to it. Tsukasa knew that Project Purity was bigger than her and it didn't really matter which name was working on it, as long as she was taking part it in then she felt accomplished. But there was still the thought of what she was supposed to do when it was over, she had come up with a few ideas but only one really stuck with her. She knew where Raven Rock's armory and chemical storage was, she decided that she was going to fill a syringe with cyanide or arsenic and end it all when it was finally over. Then she could be with her onee-chan and best friend forever. A tear of happiness slid down her face after thinking about that.

Before she could get to deep into her self-destructive thoughts three people burst through the doors and were walking quickly across to the stairs that led to the upper levels she was prohibited to enter.

To her surprise it was Kuroi, she was carrying a small metal briefcase in her hand and was flanked on either side by two Hellfire soldiers. One of the armored soldiers had a woman in her underwear thrown over their shoulder; from Tsukasa's angle she couldn't see the persons head. The person was feminine and was dotted with bullet wounds.

"Nana-chan you're back, did you find the GECK?" Tsukasa stood up and asked excitedly.

Kuroi turned to her and smiled, "Men take the prisoner to the detention center." She said quickly to the two soldiers, "Why yes Tsukasa-san we did, in fact someone led us right to it. Wasn't that nice of them?"

"Yeah it must have been." Tsukasa agreed, "Does that mean we can get Project Purity working soon?" _Just a little longer onee-chan, then we can be together in heaven._

"Yes it does." Kuroi assured her and left to make the final preparations; she couldn't help but laugh out loud startling the group of soldiers passing her. Project Purity had just been a botched operation on paper and she had turned it into something everyone was excited about and would bring massive profits to the Enclave. _General _Kuroi all of a sudden didn't seem that far off.


	18. Raven's Call

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 17- RAVEN'S CALL (The chapter that made me almost quit writing this story)**

Death is a surreal thing, when surrounded by it one doesn't appreciate the true complexity of it. In the Capital Wasteland where death was rampant and for some people a daily thing, no one took the time to really ponder it.

At the same time that Konata and Misao were discussing depleted uranium, and finding out that they had more in common than they had originally thought, Kagami was alone in an old trailer deeply thinking over the concept of life and death. She was raised by her traditionalist parents to believe that life was something to be valued and cherished, but out in the wasteland those views were challenged daily.

Eventually she dozed off in a sitting position while hugging her knees, she tried desperately not to think about "right" and "wrong" in a world ruled by complete anarchy. Tomorrow would be a busy day, chances are she would find her way to Vault 87 or spend the day searching for it at least, either one would drain her physically and possibly mentally.

Konata on the other hand was having a half decent time, after drinking a bit with the other girls she felt light headed and woozy yet strangely happy for some unexplainable reason. She enjoyed the feeling for what it was and didn't try to dwell that much on it.

"So you really don't know how old you are?" Konata asked again, arching one of her eyebrows. Misao didn't look older than seventeen but apparently knew her dad back around when she was born.

"Nope." The amber eyed girl admitted and flopped down next to Konata on the large double bed the blunette had planned to sleep on. "Makes you wonder doesn't it? For all I know I'm not even human, my eye color, my fang, the fact that I don't age."

"If you're not human then what are you?" Konata asked, not really buying her reasoning. She assumed that Misao was more than likely making everything up.

"Meta-human?" Misao shrugged.

Konata ignored that statement, "What's your earliest memory?"

Misao looked taken back, "Huh, my earliest memory? Trading some piece of paper for some money to a guy in Rivet City I think, then I bought this saloon."

"You don't remember anything about your childhood or anything?" Konata asked, if she was telling the truth then she felt bad for her. All of Konata's best memories were her childhood ones spending time with Tsukasa, Kagami, and Miyuki.

"Nope." Misao shrugged again and threw off her shirt. Konata looked at her wide eyed. She now had a clear view of a near naked Misao, Konata subconsciously noted that Misao had the same proportions as Tsukasa; but was much tanner.

"You realize that you have your own bed right?" She asked and scooted away from the tanned now shirtless girl.

"Yeah, sorry." The amber eyed girl blushed and stood up, she was about to leave when Ayano cut her off.

"I heard you two talking." She said shyly.

"Oh yeah?" Konata remarked, she didn't know why Ayano would care in the slightest about their conversation.

"Misao…you remember how we met right, I mean of course you do…right?" Ayano asked nervously.

Misao thought for a moment, "Of course I do, let's see… We met at… I was… Hmm." Ayano looked crushed.

"You really don't remember do you?" Ayano said, tears had begun to slip down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, you know I can't remember things at all. It's not my fault!" Misao replied sounding desperate to redeem herself.

"You can remember who owes you what just fine though!" Ayano shouted and stormed off. Misao went to go follow her but knew it was no use, she had point. The tan girl collapsed again next to Konata planning to ignore any of her protests.

"I hate being Misao Kusakabe." She moaned, Konata looked down at her.

"I'll trade you, you can be Konata Izumi and I'll be Misao Kusakabe. You get to ruin the life of your best friend, be an orphan and have just drain everyone else around you." Konata joked, with her tone it didn't sound like a joke though.

"Deal." Misao replied with a dry laugh and shook her hand. "You get to be a stuck up saloon owner who can't remember any important moment in her life, all you get to care about is money. Anyone else you care about will think you're a self centered bitch and rightfully so."

Downstairs Ayano was crying lightly next to Yui, who was asleep on the floor. She knew it wasn't Misao's fault that she couldn't remember, but it still hurt to know her friend was slowly forgetting her entire past. When she had first met Misao, the amber eyed girl could tell you everything about her life, then about a decade ago she just began forgetting things. It was now at the point where all she could remember was her mothers name and everything that happened since she bought the saloon.

Ayano remembered nearly twenty five years ago she was going to visit her family in Big Town and tell them how she was now part of the Brotherhood of Steel. Along the way she found a trail of blood slowly leading down a rocky path.

When she followed it she found a tan brown haired girl with amber eyes dragging herself by a gauss rifle that was nearly bigger than she was. The girl couldn't had been older than Ayano and was bleeding through some makeshift bandages, how she had stayed alive was mystery to this day.

In the Brotherhood Ayano had learned to be prepared at all times. She had a first aid kit with her complete with five stimpaks and quickly went to work on the poor girl. When she removed the bandages to replace them she reeled back in horror she found that the amber eyed teenager had taken at least three plasma rifle shots dead on without any sort of protection. Her intestines were displayed openly without the bandages and most of her other organs had been burned badly, Ayano could still see perfectly her burnt ribs sticking out like macabre spires.

How Misao had managed to drag herself through the wastes for miles in that condition only added to her Meta-human theory. With further inspection Ayano learned that whoever had bandaged her also had given her a large dose of morphine and at least two stimpaks. The wound was too grave for stimpaks alone but it had kept Misao alive long enough for Ayano's more professional care.

Misao would have died without Ayano's care and now she couldn't even remember that. The orange haired girl struggled to hold back more tears but the more she thought about it, the more it hurt. Tt was getting harder and harder to see the good in the fanged girl when she openly alienated everyone. She tried to tell herself that it wasn't Misao's fault, it was clear that she was special in someway, and that was just one of the drawbacks.

It was times like this that Ayano wondered why she even still stayed with Misao, if she left Misao probably wouldn't care. The thing that would upset her the most would probably the lack of a good worker forcing her to find someone else to waitress the saloon. Ayano sighed loudly, causing Yui to stir; then went upstairs after another ten minutes of day dreaming to check on Konata and Misao.

When Ayano went downstairs Misao clenched her fists and slammed them down onto her thighs in frustration over her blank memory. "I hate not being able to remember anything, Aya-chan probably hates me now, I don't blame her."

Konata patted her on the back, "I don't think she does, but if I'm wrong all you can do is try harder to be better friend I guess. That's what I plan to do when I see Kagami again."

"You think that'll work, I mean with Kagami and you?" Misao asked, Konata had told her about their falling out a couple days ago.

"I don't know, Kagami's a totally different person since her sister passed away. From what I've seen she doesn't want anything to do with me, I really don't know if I should keep trying." Konata answered and sighed.

Misao grabbed her by the shoulders. "I _know _you two will be friends again, she's probably still pretty grief stricken about Tsukasa but maybe her time alone getting the GECK will give her time to think about it all."

Konata smiled thankfully at the amber eyed girl. "I remember back in the vault she would get lonely working at night just after a few hours. Give her a couple of days alone in the wastes and she'll be practically attached to me when she gets back."

"That's the spirit, now if only there was a way to make Ayano see me in a better light." Misao replied confidently, it was time to move on to her own problem.

"My advice is to not worry about it to much, let Ayano know that you really care about her and try to show it best you can. If you can't remember things then it can't be helped. I can understand why people think your so aloof but her and I both know you're a wonderful person who just has a few flaws." Konata told her. They were silent for a few seconds looking each other in the eyes, between them was an aura of understanding and trust. The two girls barely knew each other yet here they were helping each other with relationship problems and how restore friendships with people they barely knew.

"Close your eyes for a second." Misao told her calmly. Konata said nothing and wondered what the fanged girl was up to, a few seconds later she felt warm lips on hers. It was brief but she could taste the alcohol on Misao's breath and lips. _Did she really just do that? _Konata's panicked mind screamed. It didn't stop there, she felt Misao's fingers press up against a precious spot between her legs; her khaki pants offered little protection.

She pushed the tanned girl back and jumped up, "Misao what the hell was that!?" She shouted, her voice came out a lot meaner than she had intended. She wasn't mad just in shock. _No, no, no my first kiss was supposed to be with Kagami not this person I barely know!_

"S-sorry, I just though that…" Misao said nervously, her face had turned a deep crimson. "No, please don't go, I just lost control for a moment!" She shouted after seeing Konata stumble backwards through the door. The blue haired girl sprinted down the stairs and practically threw her self onto a wooden chair next to where Yui was sleeping, she needed time to collect herself. Strangely, Ayano wasn't anywhere to be found.

Ayano was just out side of Megaton and sprinting south, she had gone upstairs to apologize to Misao for getting angry when she walked in silently only two see the two of them with lips locked, Misao's hands pressed up against Konata's cooch. This was just too much for her to handle, sure her and Misao had been a little distant lately but she still loved her to death. Now it was clear that the fanged girl did not have similar feelings, she couldn't bring herself to go back to Megaton. Ayano just kept running hoping that she would pass out from exhaustion eventually and be able to forget everything.

**WE INTERRUPT OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED NONSENSE.**

For your reading pleasure the rest of this chapter will be narrated in first person view by our favorite tsundere protagonist since she's the only main character here on out.

**CONTINUE ON**

I could hear the large metal gate I had just passed through slowly close behind me. This was it, no turning back, no time for regrets or remorse. It was my third day since I left after my fight with Konata. It could barely be called a fight, more like a one sided case of verbal abuse by me. I would give anything to take what I said back, if I died out here then it would be my punishment for everything I did and said.

It didn't take me long to find Little Lamplight Caverns, it was just off of the main road heading west. When I got there I was held at gun point by ten year olds because I was a "mungo" which is Portuguese for adult I think, anyways I struck a deal with them so they would let me pass. I had to go to a place called Paradise Falls and free three of their friends who were victims of slavers, it cost a bit of money and I had to crack some heads but like always I got the job done.

So here I am, on the other side of a wasteland settlement ran by kids in a place they call Murder Pass. I'm certainly not looking forward to the murder part but the pass part is promising, the kids confirmed that Vault 87 is indeed on the other side. So off we go into hell itself, those kids also told me that Murder Pass has a lot of "monsters" in it. I'm guessing Super Mutants.

I followed the cave down further, oil lamps were set up at regular intervals so I wasn't completely blind. Not oil lamps actually, they were fission powered. I felt like I should have known that. Ahem, I crept on further and managed to dodge several bear traps that were all too eager to bite at my passing ankles.

My initial guess was correct. Super Mutants, a pair of them were walking towards me idly chattering about their favorite food which happened to be horned kangaroo. Poor guys were dead before they even knew what was happening, I had to say that my laser rifle sure was becoming exceptionally useful by each passing day. It was starting to get a little worn out though, the trigger was a little too loose and a lot of the screws and stuff were coming undone. Not to mention the barrel was warped from heat and would probably need to be bent back into shape later.

After dodging some more traps and landmines I came into a much larger cave, it descended downwards about fifty feet, I was at the top and there didn't seem to be any safe way down. I didn't need to go down since there was a bunker set up on a pillar of rock in the center standing out like an island in the middle of the cavern with a natural bridge of stone leading to it from where I was standing, with another bridge branching off to my right where it met with another path. In it were three Super Mutants guarding the other path. It didn't take long for them to see me.

I took cover behind a stalactite and fired over the corner with my laser rifle, not really expecting to hit anything. After a brief pause I could hear assault rifle fire and the dirt puffing up around me. I took a deep breath and waited for the firing to taper off, I knew there was no way I was getting through this whole ordeal with same amount of blood in my body that I started with.

Once the gunfire finally tapered off I jumped around the stalactite and sprayed them the best I could with a semi-automatic weapon. I don't know what I did but the bunker exploded into flames sending the three monsters flying off the edge to their deaths. Keeping my gun trained on the other path, I made my way to the center of the cavern where the bunker had been, apparently I managed to ignite a grenade or something and set of a chain reaction of explosions. I took care to step over the cooked chunks of Super Mutant meat.

In the few moments I took examining the wreckage another Mutant had started to make his merry way towards me down the other path. This one looked more mutated, if that was possible, it was hunchbacked and had a noticeable limp. In its massive green hand was what looked to be a large mace. Then I remembered briefly that in The Great War that some T51-b units used those, I didn't remember the technical name, but I think people just called them "Super-Sledges".

Super-Sledge or not, I was going to waste this mother fucker, I fired the remaining shots in my microfusion into its torso and head. Normally Super Mutants would have chunks of flesh burned away from this, but this one barely had its skin charred. The monster charged at me and swung its weapon horizontally towards my head, I ducked quickly and lost my footing and fell into the wreckage that was the bunker previously. My hand briefly fell into something warm, wet, and fleshy, I grimaced when I realized I was wrist deep in Super Mutant guts.

I saw the Super-Sledge coming down at me and barely rolled out of the way to avoid it, one blow from that thing would probably break all my ribs easily. The Mutant used its free hand to grab the back of my clothes like a cat grabbing its kitten, with its godlike strength it lifted me and switched me into its other hand so I being held by the neck. Needless to say this was not a comfortable position to be in, neither emotionally nor physically.

"You are quick agile fighter." It pointed out in its guttural voice and slightly released its grip on me, at least enough to allow me to breath. I didn't take it as a compliment, the situation wasn't looking so great. Okay, so I may have said that if I died here it would be punishment ect… Well I was hoping it would be a quick bullet to my brain, but if I got dragged off and tortured and raped for months then… I didn't even want to think about those possibilities. _What if he shared me with his comrades too!?_

It began dragging me back the way it came, I had to think of something and fast. I didn't know anything about Super Mutant anatomy, I _assumed _they worked like humans and if they did then I would try something. I had seen it work on Mr. Burke from Ayano, and Konata from me, and it seemed to be the only option I had.

"Hey, I have an offer for you if you let me go!" I lied, the monster raised me up to look me in the eye.

"What would human have that I want?" It asked rhetorically, "Or that I just can't take?" For a moment I was worried that I didn't have enough arm room to pull this off but there was just enough.

"_Hadouken_!" I screamed and jabbed my palm into where I thought was the right spot on its neck. It turned out to be the right spot, since the Mutant dropped me and stood rigid for a moment, we were on the natural bridge going back the way it had come. I slid halfway off the side but caught myself before I could slide any further to the rocky depths below, it was a little too reminiscent of times before.

My Mutant captor was a lot less lucky, he gracelessly collapsed over the edge and was brutally impaled on the rocks below. I walked over and grabbed my fallen laser rifle and replaced the battery, I had three more batteries left which was about 72 shots which equaled around 24 Super Mutant kills. Not to mention I had my power fist at my side, and a combat knife in my boot, as long as the Mutants to come weren't immune to energy weapons like this one I had just faced, then I would be fine.

I followed the cave even further and continued to dodge the haphazard landmines and bear traps. To mix it up there were a few tripwires ready to drop a large steel beam down on me, my profession in Vault 101 depended on me catching barely noticeable anomalies and fixing them. It was now coming in handy when evading traps in this dark passage.

Eight Super Mutants and about two hundred feet later I finally came across a large metal electronic door. I hit the switch and the door slid away revealing a small room, the architecture and curves strongly hinted at Vault-Tec design. When I stepped in I heard something start beeping loudly, I dived back and heard several mines detonate in the room. Luckily, I wasn't stupid enough to fall for something like that.

I passed through that room into a room that was identical except for some low shelves with all sorts of things littered on them. I managed to find another microfusion battery and two stimpaks, there was ammo for other weapons, but none of which I had. After scrounging up what little useful things were in this room, I passed through another door into a long hallway. The walls had been made from a mixture of concrete and metal, but had rusted away and faded to a dull rusty orange with other random colors thrown in here and there. Mostly sickly greens, and different shades of brown and black, with some pale blue from mildew thrown in occasionally.

I was in Vault 87. When you live in a place for nearly nineteen years, you get extremely familiar with it, although there was poor lighting and the place was ripe with decay I could vaguely make out where I was. If my memory was correct then I was in the reactor and maintenance level, of course I had no idea where the GECK was, but I still had a plan. My goal was to find the Overseers office and look over all the records and see where they would have put a GECK, or if some obvious path came up then I would follow it.

While I was down in the maintenance level, I decided to go and see if I could find a certain room, sure enough the layout was the same, and towards the hall that led to the living quarters and the cafeteria I found a barely noticeable door and went inside. It was decent sized room with several computer terminals that had been long smashed in. There was a metal table in the center with a workbench right next to it. This is where I used to work before everything went south.

"_Onee-chan, I'm sorry to bother you but I my Pip-Boy stopped working again." Tsukasa said to me while trying to force a smile._

"_Tsukasa this is the second time this month, what did you do?" I asked trying not to sound completely impatient, last time she managed to short it out with water despite it being waterproof._

"_I was in the shower and it just stopped working." Tsukasa told me and blushed in embarrassment, she could tell I wasn't particularly thrilled with having to fix it again._

"_Come here and let me look at it." I instructed, my sister walked over and presented me her Pip-Boy. Sure enough it was completely functionless. "Looks like we have a long night ahead of us, luckily I have no deadlines so I don't have to worry about neglecting anything."_

"_Do you think I could leave it here, I don't want to lose sleep again and end up being tired at work." Tsukasa suggested._

"_No can do, those things are hard to get off of people even when they're dead." I replied and went to go get my tools to fix it up. My guess was that the frame was loose and no longer watertight. _

I reeled back against the wall from the sheer power of that flashback, it wasn't just like a normal memory, it had felt so real. That was the night before we left Vault 101, Tsukasa's Pip-Boy got messed up, and I had to solder it back together and rewire a whole bunch of stuff. The whole process took just about the entire night.

The GECK wasn't going to be found with me just dancing down memory lane, it was time to move on. I went up a set of stairs into the living quarters, a couple Super Mutants were there and made for easy prey.

Without even realizing where I was going, I stumbled into the small café that served as the vault cafeteria.

"_Oh man Kona-chan is going to be so surprised when she sees all of this!" Tsukasa cheered and struggled to hold back her giggles._

"_I certainly hope we have enough time to finish everything." Miyuki said nervously. From the work we had put into this I'd say it was finished 100%, but even at that age she was more ambitious than I was. _

"_Don't worry everyone I told Mr. Brotch to keep her after school for a little while so we have plenty of time." Konata's dad assured us. After weeks of planning I think the party came out perfectly._

The memories that this place brought back weren't very heartwarming. Instead of party streamers and balloons there were tables and chairs thrown about randomly with several skeletons sprawled across them with blood on the walls for added effect. With the dark rusted walls, this place felt more like Silent Hill than a fallout shelter.

I had to get away from that place, so I jogged out and went to go explore just a little bit more. I know it would kill me inside to see the next place I wanted to explore but I just had to see it. The dormitories looked relatively free of Super Mutant destruction and raiding for the most part, of course some two hundred years had taken its toll on the environment around here. The lack of moisture and the still air had done some work on preserving it but the place was still coated in rust and dust.

Like I said living in a place for about nineteen years makes you get used to it even if the wallpaper had changed a little bit. It didn't take me long to find what I was looking for, Room 1408, where I stayed and slept for sixteen years before getting my own dormitory which was hardly worth mentioning. The only memories that came with my own dormitory were endless nights of loneliness, and hollow self-pleasuring.

It had the same basic furnishings as it did in Vault 101, except the wood was molded and rotting on the shelves, instead of my bed there was a rusty mattress frame. In the living room everything was almost the same, there was even a jukebox in the corner just like in 101. It was eerie just how much the same the two vaults were.

"_Hmm…" Konata hummed while stroking her chin, "I dare you to…Kiss Miyuki!" _

_Kagami and Miyuki gasped in unison while Tsukasa and Konata giggled. The older twin blushed furiously and slowly loomed in to kiss her pink haired friend on the cheek._

"_No, it has to be on the lips." Konata said right before Kagami's lips touched Miyuki's cheek._

"_On the lips?" Miyuki asked nervously, all of a sudden truth or dare wasn't so much fun anymore._

"_On the lips." Konata confirmed and crossed her arms._

"_Izumi-san could we please-" Miyuki started to protest before she was interrupted by a rough passionless peck on the lips._

I shuttered out of that memory and ran out of my old room. Previously I had thought that event had taken place in the cafeteria, but now I remembered that it happened in our room. Despite everything, I chuckled after thinking about some of the things we used to do back when we were preteens, stupid, stupid stuff that was funny now that I thought about it.

Before I left I decided to check out what was my parents room in Vault 101. Like every other room it was in a state of decay and destruction. The only thing in this room was a rusty mattress frame with two skeletons on it. Normally I wouldn't think twice about a few skeletons, since there was quite a few of them in the wastes. But since this was a slightly different situation I went to observe them a bit more, the two skeletons were embracing each other. My guess was they committed suicide to be together forever, or were murdered; the former was a lot more pleasant to think about. What really got me was the size of the skeletons, one was about my size and the other was a lot smaller. It could have been a parent and child or two lovers and one was substantially smaller. _Like Konata and I._ No, I pushed that thought away, Konata and I were certainly not lovers. There may have been some love between us but I managed to kill that.

I sighed loudly, trying to snap out of my nostalgia. It was went back into the living room and tried to see if the jukebox worked. The walls of these vaults were soundproof from what I remembered, so I wasn't too worried about attracting noise.

"_Valentine Day Kiss!" Tsukasa sang along to the radio in their home, a lot louder than Kagami would have preferred. Not to mention Konata cheering her on wasn't helping._

"_Shouldn't you two be studying for the test that determines what you do for rest of your life?" She groaned at them. Kagami had been over this before but they refused to listen, or Konata would steer Tsukasa astray again._

"_Kagamin you've been studying for weeks now, they're going to make you Laser Jesus so just relax." Konata smirked at her. Laser Jesus was apparently her new thing, when ever Kagami tried to work had she was apparently aspiring to be Laser Jesus. Tsukasa giggled in the background._

"_Well if you want to live out your life as a janitor that's not my problem." She retorted. "But Tsukasa, moms going to be pissed if she finds out you're the new person who gets to go and clean out the pipes when the sewage backs up." Her younger twin looked at her in shock._

"_Do people actually have to do that, onee-chan?" She asked worriedly._

"_Oh yeah, they'd probably make Konata do it but she's to small and puny, but you're the right size." Her lie worked. Tsukasa turned off the radio and sprinted towards her desk and instantly began reading. Kagami didn't have the heart to tell her that she was now taking notes out of the book Konata had left on that desk. "The Zombie Survival Guide."_

"_I know a good job for you." Konata said in probably the most serious voice Kagami had heard from her all week. "You could be the new fun police."_

Except there was no music, the jukebox had stopped functioning centuries ago, and all it did now was trigger dormant memories. This place was freaking me out, it was just too similar to my old home for my liking. I made my way to the atrium and killed a few Mutants along the way, like the ghouls in the Dunwich Building they were just starting become tedious at this point. Back in D.C. each fight with them was a struggle where just one wrong move would lead to death, something about these ones was different. They were clumsy and missed me completely with every shot, I assumed they were not combat adepts.

The atrium was a complete mess. It reminded me of the lobby in the Tech Museum with all the gore bags and that awful smell, I silently thanked Tsukasa and put the gas mask over my mouth and nose. It was stuffy but cut out the smell completely. This place apparently was the Super Mutant hangout since there were six of them just on the bottom floor.

The fights were getting frustrating at this point, I had become rather good at not getting shot so it was now just about patience. Take cover, wait for the shooting to stop, return fire. Following that I killed the six of them like I did every other one so far.

I headed to stairwell that would take me up to the next level where the Overseers office was when a door that wasn't in Vault 101 caught my eye. "_Vault 87 Science Lab" _It read, if the GECK was going to be anywhere, is was here.

Now I was passing into the unknown, like the rest of vault the walls were orange and red from excessive rust and decay but something about this part of vault was different. The air here was strangely more thin and had this acrid taste in it. I came into what might have been an employee lounge at one point, more gore bags and presumably the smell of death to go with it.

Using my technical knowledge I easily found a map of this Vault on my Pip-Boy, I just changed my place of residence setting down by fourteen, and it gave me a map of the entire place. The labs were extensive and went underground quite a long way, as it went lower it was filled with narrow hallways with small rooms all up the sides. It looked eerily like a prison.

I briefly memorized the route I planned to take to explore the lower levels, since I didn't want to be caught with my nose buried into my wrist; and I didn't have Konata leading me by hand. If she had been there everything would have been easier, I couldn't explain it if I tried, but I just knew we'd find a way through this that didn't have me blindly groping at the dark.

Using my mental map, I found a hallway that would take me to a flight of stairs that would lead downwards into science wings storage area, which is where I was hoping to find the GECK. It was hard to believe that one little object was causing so much trouble, I wondered if anyone else ever had problems with these. As I was passing through nondescript halls my mind began to wander to silly places that usually were born when I was around Konata.

"_What is your name?" A tiny old man asked me as I stood before a rickety old bridge spanning across a gorge of death._

"_Kagami Hiiragi." I replied confidently. _

"_What is your quest?" He asked next._

"_To find the Holy GECK." I replied cringing since the next question was always the hardest._

"_Who is the only character to make an appearance in all three Fallout games?" He asked and gave me a smug look._

"_What? I don't know that!" I answered and was tossed into the gorge without a second thought._

If the bloody trophies that the Mutants had on display everywhere wasn't enough then there were all sorts of jars and tanks full of preserved body parts, and other things I couldn't recognize. Luckily very few of the contents were human body parts, most of them were pickled reptiles and amphibians. Still really creepy.

Eventually I came across the side rooms that had been on the map. I was right, they were indeed cells. Out of curiosity, I entered one and noticed I was being irradiated a little bit, in the center was turned over hospital bed and a corpse on the ground. It wasn't mutant or human; it could have been human but whatever happened to it made it certainly not human anymore. It looked vaguely human except with a massive cancerous growth covering most of its body, its face was barely visible and had a look of permanent anguish. I wanted to know just what the fuck Vault-Tec was doing.

The GECK could wait, I needed to know what they had been doing to those people. I consulted my map and found an area labeled, "Chief Research Area" and found it quickly since it was just around the down the hall I was in. As I was walking down that hall, I glanced into the other cells and saw the same thing, more people who had died in convulsive agony with massive growths on them.

I killed the two Super Mutants guarding the Chief Research Area and went inside. It looked like a medical bay with medical supplies laying about amongst all the clutter. On the other side was a computer terminal that I assumed would have what I was looking for.

Using my Pip-Boy, I bypassed the weak security on the thing and began reading some of the most recent documents. I must have stood there for hours reading everything, I stumbled back and fell on the floor just from the shock of absorbing it all.

Any faith I had in Vault-Tec or the Enclave were diminished then and there, turned out that Enclave had been established right before the bombs dropped as a safe guard, which made sense to me; but combining that with everything else that I read made it seem like the apocalypse was just a game or experiment to these people.

Out of the one hundred and twenty something Vaults less than ten were designed to do as they were advertised. The initial Vault-Tec propaganda told people that they would hide out in a Vault for a decade or two then come out and rebuild the planet. That wasn't the case however.

Every Vault was an experiment, some of them were simply things like, "What would happen if we cut their resources a little bit?" and "What would happen if we mixed people of all languages together." Then there were some that got just flat out ludicrous, "Ten women, ten men and one panther." another one was. "One thousand men and one woman, and vise versa." The most outrageous one by far was vault 72, "One man and a box of puppies." Luckily Vault 101 wasn't subjected to that kind of plan, Vault 101's experiment was the effect of a totalitarian ruler in prolonged isolation.

Vault 87 had been a testing place for something known as the "Forced Evolution Virus." or FEV, Vault 8 also had the same agenda. Apparently the FEV was supposed to rapidly boost mitochondria or some other things, and pretty much speed up the Darwin effect. The results were Super Mutants.

My knees buckled and I couldn't help by dry heave a bit, this was just too much. These monsters that waged war on humanity and ripped innocent people and children apart with sadistic glee were man made. Since they were still around, that meant they were still being made, I was here at their home base too. I made a mental note that if one tried to capture me like the one back at Murder Pass then I should kill myself by any means necessary even if that meant chewing out my own wrists or something.

After I got the GECK I would personally make sure that this place was destroyed. Once I was done collecting myself I moved on. A lone Mutant wandered up the hall and I promptly incinerated him. Up to now I had been blasting through these things without a second thought, now I realized that these used to be people. Possibly raiders, or scavengers, or maybe even slavers who wandered to far into the ruins, that made killing them a little more justified. Then I remembered the stories Minami told us about the Super Mutant attacks on Big Town when she was growing up, and how she had some her friends dragged away in the night by them. It was way to fucking easy to imagine a little girl being carried away from her family at night screaming and turned into one of those… _monsters._

I was _definitely _going to make sure that this place was burned to the ground, hell I'd petition to get the bomb in Megaton carried over here and detonated over the place to be sure. It'd be a great opportunity to see how well the Vaults worked as advertised.

If I kept sitting there thinking about how my entire existence up to the wastes was a goddamned _social experiment_, I would go insane. The initial plan for Vault-Tec and the US government was to go and collect all the data after the experiments were dubbed complete. Since Vault 101 had never been bothered by government officials, and Vault 87 sure didn't look like a bustling utopia of information, I had the right to assume that their little plan failed miserably. The results were the world I lived in.

According to my map there was only one floor left to explore. It had a cell block like every other floor, and a rather long series of halls that lead to a "top clearance storage area". It seemed to be best place to search at this point, I followed another staircase down to the lowest level and followed another hallway down. On either side were more cells, the only thing different about these ones were that they had dead human corpses that looked recent, compared to the half skeletal cancerous monsters in vault suits that I had seen before. It gave me some sort of relief that these people were killed instead of undergoing whatever transformation that made people into Mutants.

"You over there, please come over to the intercom to your left." A gruff, electronically distorted voice told me. I was at a three way intersection with another hallway branching off to my left, at the corner there was a white intercom box next to the dirty window of another cell.

"Hello?" I replied nervously while hitting the talk button of the intercom, the voice had sounded suspiciously like a Super Mutant. I was worried about an ambush, but wasn't going to give into paranoia right away.

"Ah, it's so great to hear the voice of someone from the outside. Please you have to get me out of this place!" The unseen person said almost desperately.

"Right." I said rather confused, "Hmm, before I do anything I want to know who and what you are." If this was an ambush I would try my best to expose it before doing anything drastic.

"I see, your fears must be warranted, considering you have no doubt come across my less civilized kin." He said, I wasn't sure if he was addressing me or just thinking out loud. "I used live or work here in this place a long time ago, I don't know anymore to be honest. It could have all been a dream for all I know, I had a name once but I forgot it long ago. If you wish to address me please call me Fawkes." From the records I had read Vault 87 fell apart only about a year after the bombs, so how long had Fawkes been down here?

"I took the name after a man who fought and died defending his freedom and beliefs, if the situation came about I would gladly follow suite." Fawkes continued, "You're probably wondering exactly what I am, in your words I am a Super Mutant. I personally find the term to be degrading and vulgar, I would preferred to be called Meta-human."

"You've been in here for a long time huh?" I said rhetorically, then I found an inconsistency with his story. "Wait, if you can't remember your name then how could you possibly know about Guy Fawkes?"

"Ah you are clever my friend." Fawkes replied with a tint of humor in his voice, and he was calling me friend which I supposed was nice. "There was a terminal in here that had access to nearly every single Vault file and document, this included everything used for education, and preexisting encyclopedias used for reference by Vault-Tec scientists. I spent the years educating myself to occupy my time, however, recently the others found it and destroyed it to torment me."

"The Super Mutants knew you were here but didn't do anything?" I asked, his explanation made sense I guessed but I was still a little reluctant to believe him since everything in the last six hours had tried to kill me.

"Yes, they saw me as an anomaly and different and left me here to rot." He explained grimly.

"Alright, I think I believe you, these doors are electronically locked and I can't get them open. How do you suggest I get you out of there?" In theory I could have attempted to hack one of the computers but they were ridiculously defended by dozens of firewalls, and my normal method would prove difficult with their 25 letter passwords. The password for that computer upstairs had been _Deoxyribonnucliecacid _and that had been _easy_.

"Ha ha I knew you would be my salvation friend!" Fawkes cheered so loud that his voice came out with even more static through the two-way intercom. "Down the hallway you were going there is a reactor room that has a terminal that controls every console command on this level. If my knowledge is correct you should be able to activate the fire alarm which will automatically unlock every door here."

"I'll be back." I said curtly, and headed down the hallway, I didn't know how helping this cultivated Mutant would help me, but it felt wrong to leave him there for all eternity to wallow in his despair and boredom.

Like he, said there was a reactor room at the end of the hallway, one exceptionally armored Mutant was on guard, but was facing the other way. I silently crept up behind him and smashed the butt of my rifle into the back of its head. He bolted forward into one of the generators, which was literally crackling from electricity from an error left unchecked for probably longer than a century. I felt the hairs on my arm raise as he was electrocuted with Cthulhu knows how many watts of electricity, within seconds his body was black and warped. As promised, there was a terminal at the other side of the room.

It was nearly identical to the one that I had in my office in Vault 101, yes I did have an office and looking back on it now it was quite lovely. I knew the controls vaguely, since I had never used the one in Vault 101, still it didn't take long to find the fire alarm. When I hit the button and sprinklers buffeted me and were accompanied by a dull alarm that had long since lost its function.

I felt a tingly sensation through the bottom of my boot and saw that the sprinklers had started to get the entire floor wet, the electricity from the generators was starting to conduct. I sprinted through the water and ignored the shock the best I could, it stung a bit, but was nothing worse then the electric shocks I suffered in my old line of work. Strangely after seeing all these things that reminded me of my job as chief engineer, I didn't miss it one bit.

When I went back into the hallway I was charged by several half starved raiders and some…thing. I felt no remorse as I gunned down the prisoners with no remorse, if anything I was doing justice. Something else waddled its way down me, it was vaguely human from the waste up just with no arms. It had pinkish flesh and its head was frozen in an expression of grimace with an unhinged jaw, four tongues that were each nearly a foot long each protruded from its mouth, they were all waggling grotesquely towards me. Bellow the torso, which could only be explained in an extremely vulgar term, was clusterfuck of useless arms, legs, and hands dragging themselves at me like a slug.

I was too busy just wondering how something like this had come to be, something else charged down the hallways behind this new monster and smashed a Super Sledge into its back almost instantly killed it. It was a Super Mutant, I steeled myself for the fight at hand since this was probably going to be like the fight I nearly lost in Murder Pass.

"Hold friend it is I!" Fawkes called out to me, in the dim light I could see him fully now. He looked just like every other Super Mutant, except something about his face was slightly different. It showed some kind of unspoken wisdom and knowledge beyond all his lesser kin. He was clad in a tight Vault 87 jumpsuit that was torn in multiple places and exposed his green chest fully.

"Good to see you on the other side." I said with a smile.

"I can never thank you enough for this, you have shown more kindness than I will ever know. Please tell me, if there is anything I can do to repay you just ask." He said and attempted to bow his stiff rigid body.

I thought for a moment and answered. "If it isn't too much trouble would you please help me find something called a GECK?"

Despite his lack of emotional features, I could see his face light up. "Of course, in fact I know exactly where it is. What an amazing coincidence."

Throwing modesty aside I cheered and did a quick victory dance, "Please show me the way, this means more to me than anything."

"Of course, it is the least I can do." Fawkes replied and gestured at me to follow him, I tagged behind him as we walked down the hallway that branched off from the intersection I had met him at. "I would have thought by now that a GECK is useless, considering the worlds climate." He noted was we were walking along.

"We're not using it for its original purpose." I told him, "We're going to use it to try and create a large purifier to filter radiation out of water on a very large scale for people."

"A noble cause." Fawkes said and allowed me to continue.

"Once we get the GECK we should be able to finish it up, I really hope so at least since my twin sister died for this." I continued, I would do anything to finish this just so Tsukasa wouldn't have died in vain.

"Twin sister…that means you were both from the same litter correct?" He asked not quite understanding the term, understandable. "Excuse me I'm being horribly indecent, I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't worry about it." I replied earnestly. "By the way don't use the word litter when talking about humans, it sounds weird."

He was going to reply but was cut off as two Super Mutants charged at us with nail boards. Fawkes brandished his Super Sledge and met their charge, I drew my laser rifle but didn't need it since Fawkes quickly smashed the heads of both his opponents in less than ten seconds. Further ahead I could hear more shouting between Mutants, who were wondering what the noise was.

Fawkes slowly lead the way through a series of narrow halls and room. In nearly every room we met opposition, but he managed to kill everything without taking so much as a scratch. Fawkes shrugged off bullets like his skin was made of steel and smashed through every Mutant; bviously enjoying his newfound freedom.

Eventually we ended up in a square room with one other hallway leading back parallel with the route we had just taken, it was literally glowing green.

"The GECK is down that way." Fawkes explained, "The radiation levels would kill you in seconds,but I inherited a trait from my lesser kin which will hasrendered me immune to it, wait here please."

I obeyed and watched him descend into the green hallway. This was it now all that was left was finding my way back, nd taking back the Jefferson Memorial from the Enclave. Suddenly my goal didn't seem so far off, the only loose end left to tie up was my relationship with Konata. Maybe on my way back I could stop and get something for her to show her I was sorry, then take her out somewhere fancy. Who says you couldn't have a date in the wasteland?

About ten minutes later, Fawkes returned with a small metal briefcase which he handed to me. "There you are my friend, I'm afraid this is where we part ways."

"Where are you going to go after this?" I asked him, I couldn't begin to fathom where I could go after a life of imprisonment.

"I'm going to stay here awhile and look some things up, then I plan to find the Museum of History in the surrounding region. Perhaps we will meet again some day." He answered and walked back down the green hall. So much for a hearty goodbye, I guess it wasn't his fault, since he had no idea about social etiquette.

With the GECK in hand, I walked down the way we took and stepped over the multiple Mutant corpses Fawkes left in his wake. I really should have saw what happened next coming, maybe if ominous music was playing then I would have gotten the hint but alas I was completely ignorant. The song _Thieves _by _Ministry_ would have been a good warning sign.

I walked into a large square room that was right around the corner form the hall I met Fawkes in. Something flashed and blinded me, I grasped for my knife in my boot and flailed it around randomly at whatever had ambushed me. Someone grabbed my knife arm and bent it backwards, I heard it snap at the elbow. I screamed as I felt something shock my neck, and my whole body went numb.

The only things I could feel were the pain in my arm, and the cold ground beneath me; No part of my body would move on command. I was completely paralyzed.

"Yeah, I still got it." A female voice boasted, I recognized that voice from somewhere. My vision returned and I saw Satan's right hand herself standing over me. Colonel Nanako Kuroi.

I felt her cold hands pry the GECK out of mine, beside her were two heavily armored Enclave soldiers with gattling lasers trained one me, I was almost flattered they had come so armed to meet me. I wanted so much to jump up and stab that bitch in the throat and watch her die in a pool of her own blood. I would make her pay for what she did to my baby sister no matter what.

"Here I was thinking we were going to have to call in some help to find this thing." Kuroi said, holding up the stolen GECK, she kneeled down and looked me in the eye. "Aren't you such a good little girl helping us out?" I couldn't respond in anyway.

"Next time you'll learn not to fuck with us," She hissed and spat on my face, "Make sure the GECK is secured upon my Vertibird, and take this one here as prisoner, she may know things we need." Kuroi ordered and walked the other way.

I felt cold metal hands drag me out just before I blacked out.

**STOLEN**

And finally I'm finished, at over 9000 words this is my longest chapter yet. Like I said I changed a lot of things throughout my rewrites, originally Misao had never kissed Konata and Vault 87 wasn't narrated in first person. I also cut out the entire events of Little Lamplight since I didn't think they were important to the story. Then I had to do an edit later, which was particularly unfun.

The near invincible Mutant Kagami faced was a Super Mutant Overlord, those bastards are a pain and Paralyzing Palm, which she used, I find is the most effective was of dispatching them. Hadouken is a Street Fighter reference.

Kagami's old dormitory number being 1408 is both a reference to the Stephen King short story, and the fact that used to be my old house number last year. The little bit inside about her arguing with Tsukasa and Konata about studying was taken directly from Chapter 1 if you didn't notice.

The fourth wall breaking daydream that Kagami has midway through is not a reference to Monty Python and The Holy Grail. It is actually based off a random event you can come across in Fallout 2 which the guy asks the same questions. The answer to the last question is Harold.

Vault 72 is a reference to a Penny Arcade comic with the plot aforementioned.

The monster Fawkes kills after being freed is a centaur. To be honest I had pretty much forgotten about them up to this point since they were such a minor enemy in the game.

Fun fact, in Fallout 3 the character I based off Kagami ended the game with about 450 hp. Fawkes who is described in this chapter as being nearly invincible has about 230,000 hp. For those who haven't played this game, that is _**a lot**_.

Anyways tune in next time as Kagami meets a lot of unexpected people and attempts to escape the clutches of the Enclave.


	19. Sic Semper Tyrannis

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 18- SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS **

"It's been two weeks today since she left." Konata thought out loud. She had come back to the Citadel after spending a few days with Misao, considering their little incident they both decided to stop drinking around each other.

"Maybe she's just having a hard time finding the Gecko." Misao suggested, Konata didn't know why Misao had come with her but wasn't upset about it. Ayano had strangely disappeared, and after a few days of her being gone Misao assumed she was staying with relatives in Big Town to get away from her or something. She left a note for Ayano telling her where they went, and followed Konata to the Citadel. It was a mystery why they let her in though since they were very strict on allowing outsiders.

"But no ones gotten any word from her and the only people who saw her were some kids that said she passed by their town nearly two weeks ago. She couldn't be in a vault that long could she?" Konata speculated, whatever had happened it was worrying her greatly. There were a lot of possibilities and very few of them were good.

**KUROI'S FRAYED ENDS OF SANITY**

Tsukasa bolted to attention when she heard the electronic door behind her open, she had fallen asleep listening to _The Beatles_, while wondering just what the lyrics of _I Am The Walrus _meant, it was such a silly song. A few times before some Enclave officers came in and yelled at her for not working hard enough, she had to tell them all that she was completely finished. After reviewing the combined notes of Sojiro, Kanata, and Hiyori she found out how to get the GECK to work for them after only two days.

Luckily it was her only friend in the world, Nana-chan walked up next to her and glanced at her desk. Several choose-your-own-adventure books and a beat up Gameboy which was still on while connected to its charger, on its screen was the statistics of a particularly powerful Wigglytuff named Yukichan.

Tsukasa looked up at her and could see the lines of stress on her face, it was hard to tell what she was stressed about though, everything had been going fine so far. "Is something wrong?" The lilac haired girl asked nervously.

"Sort of." Kuroi shrugged, "Some things came up that I'm a little upset about."

"What kind of things?" Tsukasa asked, she was hoping that she wasn't prying too much.

"Militaristic nonsense." She answered, "Even though I've worked so hard and slaved so much for Project Purity, and on multiple occasions risked my life, they're planning on ,tripping me of my officers title."

"That's terrible, why would they do that?" Tsukasa nearly shouted. Nana-chan was a nice person who only cared about helping people, if anything she should be promoted.

"Some false accusations were made against me by lesser officers, they said I overstepped my bounds of power a few times. I'll admit I did a few things that I would have needed clearance for, but I would have gotten it anyways and they know it. They're all jealous power hungry monsters looking for my position." Kuroi explained in a very irritated tone, Tsukasa knew that the acid in her voice wasn't directed at her.

"What are you going to do if they do try to demote you?" Tsukasa asked worriedly, she didn't want to think of anyone else running Raven Rock, especially if some power abusing person took charge and used torture and threats to get their way and took credit for what other people did.

"Don't worry, I got a plan." Kuroi assured her and smiled a grin that honestly worried Tsukasa. "Sorry but I have to go greet a very important visitor in a few minutes, I'll see you later." And with that she walked out and made her way to the second floor where the detention center was.

**BEHIND ENEMY LINES**

Kagami's memories were a blur, she couldn't tell what was real and what was dream. For sometime now she had been heavily sedated, and moved from place to place in a dreamlike haze. She didn't know how long she had been this way, and all she could remember were bits and pieces of conversation that had floated into her subconscious mind.

"_Two light fractures, nothing major, Sir. Still Kuroi needs to stop doing this, remember the operation on the other girl?"_

"_Purging substance addiction in three…"_

"_The Private Contractor scientist Kuroi hired finished her work on the GECK after only two days, can you believe that? I guess she was right to not kill her."_

"_-kasa wandered into the second floor again, someone needs to keep that girl on a leash, I don't care what she did to help us she still needs clearance like everyone else."_

"_Tonight I'm filing another report against the Colonel, I walked in on her playing video games, and drinking out of uniform during work hours."_

"_Dude, last night she shot a recruit for back sassing her and ended up killing the poor guy. I'm with you on this, tonight I'm filing a report against her too."_

Among the random conversations she had picked up, she could have sworn that she heard Tsukasa's name in there a few times. Kagami assumed it was her addled mind playing tricks on her.

A jolt of electricity surged through her body and woke her up, it was the first time she had been truly awake in a long time. Kagami opened her eyes and looked around, she was in a dark cell with an electronic door with an intercom next to it facing her directly across from where she was. She couldn't move any part of her body at all, she was starting to worry that the electric shock Kuroi had given her at Vault 87 had paralyzed her permanently. After a few minutes of thinking she came up with another theory, she realized that she was naked and it was very cold in that room, so cold she was shivering. This meant she wasn't numb and therefore may not be paralyzed, it was possible the reason she couldn't feel anything was because she was in a stasis field of some kind. That would also explain why she had her arms outwards like she had been crucified.

The door across from her slid open and Kagami gritted her teeth when she saw who walked through. A woman with long blonde hair and a tan colored trench coat.

"Morning sleepyhead." Kuroi greeted with a wave and a smile. Kagami could feel the anger boiling in her, she struggled to break whatever bonds were holding her so she could strangle this person.

"What the hell do you want with me?" Kagami hissed, she was surprised she could talk.

"Not much really," The Colonel shrugged nonchalantly, "The good guys won this time I'm afraid, but believe it or not we're capable of mercy."

"Like the mercy you showed my sister?" Kagami pointed out, she would trade literally anything to get a swing at this demon at this point.

"Exactly, look I only need one thing from you and then you're free to just walk on out." Kuroi told her. "I know you were involved with Project Purity, and we know you're not completely lacking in intelligence. So just tell me one thing."

"I'm not telling you anything." Kagami said adamantly, "Shoot me, torture me, kill me, it doesn't matter. I'll never tell you anything."

Kuroi looked like she was ignoring her, Kagami could see that her eyes were trained down south. "I've never seen that before, I think the correct term would be lilac crotch. Kind of sexy, I'll see if I can't find some lilac hair dye."

"What are you…?" Kagami stuttered in confusion, then it hit her. _Is she talking about my… oh god that's disgusting! _Her face blushed bright red, here she was naked and helpless against her enemy who was poking fun at her now. Kagami just wanted to ball up with her old favorite stuffed rabbit (A rabbit name Snuffle Bunny who belonged to her mother before being passed down to her) and cry.

Kuroi smiled and walked up to her, Kagami didn't like that evil fanged smile one bit. Kagami flinched as she felt cold metal press up against her sex, she gasped and realized Kuroi was aiming her 14mm pistol into her. "I'm pretty sure I could get you to start screaming answers with a squeeze of this trigger. Keep in mind this is an explosive round and I doubt you'd be as luck as your stupid fucking sister if I fired. Luckily I'm not going to fire this because I don't want your guts all over my coat. Now you're going to talk or we're going to have some issues between us."

"Go to hell." Kagami hissed. Kuroi just laughed and pressed the gun barrel _into _her, Kagami gasped from the sudden pain and her face turned a bright red.

"I would probably start talking if I were you." Kuroi said with her evil grin still on her face. She pressed the barrel of her pistol just a little further and Kagami yelped in pain, tears of pain and bitter shame were falling down her face. Kagami had never experienced any sort of penetration in that tender area and the pain now was unbearable.

"_Stop! Stop just fucking stop, I'll tell you anything!_" Kagami screamed, is felt like she was going to split apart and start bleeding between her legs. Kuroi gracelessly removed her pistol and smeared the blood from it across Kagami's cheeks.

"Like I said just tell us one little thing and you can go." The insane colonel told her again with a devilish grin.

"Fine, what is it?" Kagami said in defeat. "The code to get the purifier working, your girlfriend's dad threw up a code that we have yet to crack." Kuroi replied.

"Code?" Kagami thought out loud, she was never told about any code. However, she did know one code that had come up multiple times that Sojiro used. "I love girls with glasses, try that."

Kuroi nodded and raised the radio that was at her belt to her face. "Raven Rock to Jefferson, I repeat Raven Rock to Jefferson, over."

After a second there was a reply. "I'm reading you Raven Rock, this is Jefferson, over."

"This is General Nanako Kuroi, I have the code over." She told them. _So it's general now huh? _Kagami thought.

"Rodger…General… Awaiting reply over." The person on the other end replied, he said the word general like it was something in a foreign language.

"The code is I Love Girls With Glasses, I repeat I love Girls With Glasses. Over" Kuroi told them.

"Confirmed, we're sending someone in right now. Over." After several minutes there was another reply. "General is this your idea of a joke, the code is numerical, I just lost two more men."

Kuroi dropped the radio and grabbed her 14mm pistol. She stepped up and grabbed the suspended Kagami by her throat and jabbed her between the legs with the gun again. Kagami flinched as much as she could and felt hot tears flowing down her face. She felt like such an idiot for all those times that she thought _If I die here that's my punishment. _No, she didn't want to die, she wanted to live a long happy life with what was left with her family and friends. _Maybe even make my dream I had in Minefield come true._

"I'm going to find your little fuckbuddy with blue hair and make her eat the remains of your cunt!" Kuroi threatened, Kagami actually believed her. She had every right to believe her too, Nanako had not intended that as a hollow threat.

Kuroi as about to pull the trigger and fire and explosive round that would turn Kagami's midsection into paste when a familiar voice sounded through an overhead intercom. "Colonel Nanako Kuroi I need you in my quarters right now." It was a male voice with a slight southern accent, Kagami could have swore she had heard it before.

The General or Colonel, or whatever her rank was, spat in Kagami's eye and walked out without putting her gun away.

"I'm sorry about that, she's been under a lot of stress lately." The person sounded again, the restraints keeping Kagami up vanished and she fell to the cold floor. "I would like to talk to you in person, your things are in a locker to your left. When you are dressed would you please meet up in my office on the third floor?"

"S-sure…" Kagami replied nervously through her tears, knowing she didn't really have much of a choice. "Excuse me but, who are you?"

"Why you know me." The person chuckled. "I'm your president John Henry Eden." Kagami heard the intercom click off and she achingly rose to her feet, she had trouble standing up at first and it hurt to walk; it felt like that precious spot between her legs was on fire. She stumbled over to the locker and found her messenger bag next to a stack of folded clothes, with her laser rifle leaning against the side. Except it wasn't _her _laser rifle, it was a brand new one. She didn't know why they had left her this but she wasn't about to look a gift rifle in the mouth. Without dwelling on it too much, she redressed in her clothes while taking special care to touch her inflamed sex as much as she could.

Apparently she was supposed to meet this guy on the third floor, she didn't know what floor she was on or where she was supposed to go. Not to mention she was more than likely going to be shot at or dragged back here.

"Attention everyone, this is President Eden." Eden's voice echoed through out the halls from multiple intercoms. "I would like to inform you that the prisoner is to be treated as a guest and shall not be questioned for any reason."

_Well that certainly makes things easier _Kagami thought as she exited the room. Outside was a narrow hallway that was painted black with yellow fluorescent lights illuminating it. She was standing on metal grating that was layered over electrical wires that ran throughout the place.

She didn't know where to go, so she wandered right and followed the hallway down until it turned. Coming down the hallway towards her was a man in wearing a black and gray officers oufit.

"Hey, excuse me!" She called out, it felt weird talking to someone who was supposed to be the enemy.

"Huh, what is it?" He replied, sounding just as awkward as Kagami did.

"I was told to go meet President Eden, where is he?" Kagami asked nervously.

"Oh, third floor. Take the stairs back the way I came up." The Enclave soldier replied and walked past her. She watched him walk away and something inside of her snapped. The GECK was gone, her baby sister was dead, she no longer was friends with Konata…Her eye twitched and her clenched fists throbbed in anger.

"_You killed my baby sister!_" She screamed at the officer, he turned around and shot her a curious glance just as she was sprinting at him. Kagami threw him on the ground and pressed one hand against his neck and clawed at his faced with her other. After two weeks of growth, her nails were at just the right clawing length. The officer bucked and kicked and tried to get away as his windpipe was being crushed, and Kagami's nail raked at his face. She used her thumb to pry out his right eye, the unlucky officer was screaming all the way. Her fists rained down on his face in a flurry of hate filled blows, punch after punch she continued until the man wasn't even recognizable as human anymore.

She stood up and looked took a long and shaky breath, getting around unnoticed was going to be much more difficult now that she was splattered with the mans blood. Kagami followed his directions and found the narrow stairwell leading upwards. Next to it was a door that was labeled with, _QUARTERS OF NANAKO KUROI. STAY OUT._

Curiosity overtook her and Kagami couldn't help just taking a peak. Luckily, the door was unlocked and slid open, the lilac haired girl slid inside and looked around. It was much messier than she had expected. The furnishings were simple, just a cot and a desk with a computer on it. The floor was covered in beer cans and dirty clothes. Kagami was almost impressed by how messy everything but the computer desk was. The computer and desk looked almost polished it was so clean, next to it was a cardboard box filled to the brim with all sorts of flash and thumb drives.

Kagami tapped the space bar of Kuroi's computer and brought it out of its screen saver. The desktop was a page from some manga showing the upper half of a naked woman splattered in blood with two rhombus shaped horns sticking out through her long, flowing hair. Out of every single prewar computer Kagami had ever seen or read about this one was by far the best, it had several hundred terabytes of storage and thirty gigs of RAM. Kuroi had apparently been putting it to use, there were several thousand images saved, hundreds of videos and several dozen games. Three of which were minimized along with forty other things. Kagami opened up her Itunes tab and went to see her top 25 played songs. _Punk Rock Girl _by _The Dead Milkmen _took the lead with 6,374 listens. Kagami wasn't sure if that was impressive or just sad.

She was about to walk out when she heard something beep against the wall, Kagami looked at it and saw a motion sense placed to warn Kuroi when people were coming. Someone was about to walk in, she ran through the sea of empty cans and clothes and slid under Kuroi's bed. It was an uncomfortable fit considering all the garbage that was shoved under there.

From under the bed Kagami could see someone walking in, from the high black boots and the bottom of the swaying tan trench coat she could tell who it was.

Kagami wiggled into a position where she could see a bit better, she was regretting coming in here now. Kuroi hunched over her computer and tapped a few buttons then picked up a USB microphone.

"This is General Nanako Kuroi speaking." She said into it, her voice echoed throughout Raven Rock from the intercoms. "Yes it's General now, you all be receiving an official memo about it after we finish our work at the Jefferson Memorial. Anyways I'm hereby ordering you all to disregard the Presidents previous order and shoot the prisoner on sight. She's easy to spot, lilac hair, Asian, not dressed like us…hmm… according to this she likes progressive rock, how could we possibly know that? I'm loosing my train of thought, yeah not like us. Shoot her, actually hold on…You don't have to shoot her right away, do what ever the hell you want, no limits, then shoot her." Kuroi put the microphone down and walked out. After several minutes Kagami deemed it safe and emerged from her hidey hole.

As she was creeping out with her laser rifle drawn incase of any one coming in she noticed something on the ground. Kagami crouched down to get a better look and saw it was a yellow beaded bracelet. _This…is Tsukasa's! _She realized and slipped it over her own wrist. When she was about thirteen Tsukasa made four of these for her three friends and herself. Eventually the other three had stopped wearing them but Tsukasa still wore hers occasionally. It had been on her when they left the Vault and at the Jefferson Memorial. How Kuroi had gotten her hands on it was a mystery.

Kagami left Kuroi's room and slid around the corner and jogged up the stairs with her weapon brandished, ready to take out anyone who was thinking about taking a shot at her. The stairs ended at an electronic door, she opened it and entered a massive room that had to be at least a hundred feet high. In the center was a massive machine that looked like an electronic pillar reaching to the top of the room, around it were stairs leading to its apex.

Since that was the only way to go Kagami began ascending the stairs. Twenty feet from the ceiling the stairs ended, at the top of the pillar was a large terminal. Kagami ignored it and headed towards the door across from it.

"That's far enough." She heard Eden's voice say to her. She spun around to meet him but only saw electronics.

"Meeting face to face huh?" Kagami said, irritated at the fact that he wanted them to meet in person but was hiding behind something; figured.

"I assure you we are face to face." As he spoke lines on the terminals screen flickered to the tune of his words.

"You're…a machine…" Kagami realized in an instant.

"Yes, I suppose I am. Make no mistake, I am a very elaborate artificial intelligence. Perhaps the greatest ever made, and Ms. Hiiragi I would like to have a chat with you." He/it explained.

"What would you want to talk to me about?" Kagami asked and crossed her arms. She considered her time in the wastes to be very insignificant, certainly not deserving of presidential attention.

"I am well aware you have no love for us, for that matter I also know you have very little love towards our rivals the Brotherhood of Steel." Eden replied. "Furthermore I know you are not daft and neither am I. Both of us know how important Project Purity is, the Enclave has the means to accomplish it but one of our own is more likely to destroy it."

"General Kuroi." Kagami said finishing his thought.

"Technically still Colonel, she promoted herself to General which is strictly prohibited. In fact by our regulations she isn't even old enough to be a General." Eden corrected. "Before I digress, yes Kuroi is a major threat to Project Purity. She joined us at rough time, we were still trying to recover from the blow we took out west by a single tribal, and her squad took the worst of it. Her squad was part of a campaign against the many raider gangs that ganged together used to rule most of the Capital Wasteland. In short they saw a lot of horrors in the fights, and no one came out of it with all of their mind in tact. Anyways, after attaining a position of power she used it for luxury as you have no doubt seen in her quarters. She was confronted about this and was threatened with loosing it, Project Purity was her way to redeem herself. Kuroi doesn't care about it and will probably end up destroying it."

"What does this have to do with me?" Kagami asked, she didn't care at all about Kuroi's life story. She just wanted to know what she was brought here for.

"Like I said I am not daft, I know the importance of Project Purity and I know the Brotherhood will no doubt launch an attack to take it back. In my eyes it doesn't matter who controls it as long as it gets used properly." He continued, "In front of you is a vial of a modified strand of the FEV, this version has a much different effect though."

"I know what the FEV does and the answer is no to whatever it is you're proposing." Kagami said adamantly and turned away.

"Do not be so quick to diminish my offer, like I said this one has a much different effect. The normal FEV turns humans into unrecognizable monsters, this version corrects the mistake." Eden told her, Kagami turned back around.

"What do you mean corrects their mistake, does it reverse the mutation?" She asked slowly, that seemed too good to be true.

"I'm afraid it does not, in short it poisons their body and causes them to die off prior to contact. If you placed this into the Purifier it would drive all Mutants and Ghouls to extinction in just a few years."

Kagami thought about it for a few minutes, the majority of the things that had tried to kill her were either Mutants or Ghouls, still it felt almost wrong helping the enemy. "Can I think about it some more?"

"That is all I ask, just take the vial and do what you feel is right." Eden replied. Kagami nodded and took the canister from the terminal, it was encased in metal to prevent destruction. She slipped it into her bag.

"It is a shame we could not have met on better circumstances, just from your Pip-Boy and all the records on it we could tell how much potential you have. You could have made an amazing addition to the Enclave in another life." Eden lamented.

"Maybe." Kagami shrugged, maybe if Kuroi hadn't had taken charge then the Enclave would have been something worth considering.

"You are free to leave now, the door behind you is unlocked and you would be able to find your way by following the signs." He said and the doors red light turned green.

"What about Kuroi and her goons?" Kagami asked as she was walking away.

"Don't worry about them." Eden assured her.

**FINISHING IT OFF**

In front of her was a syringe filled with a potent version of cyanide. Tsukasa raised it and held against her neck. _They don't need me anymore, nobody needs me anymore. I hope onee-chan and Kona-chan will be happy to see me in heaven. I'm sorry mom and dad. _She pressed the tip of the needle against her neck.

Breaking her from her thoughts, a solider in power armor stumbled through. His armor was checkered with holes that could only be made by laser weapons.

"What's happening?" Tsukasa asked him nervously. In her surprise, Tsukasa dropped the syringe onto the table in front of her.

"The damn turrets and Sentrybots turned on us!" He growled, "Just stay here until this blows over, I'm going back out there to kill that fucking prisoner." Before Tsukasa could say anything he sprinted back out, she could hear laser rife fire immediately after.

She heaved a heavy sighed and decided to look through her pictures on her Pip-Boy one last time before ending her life.

A picture of her and Kagami with food all over their face, they must have been about five at the time. A picture of her next to a cake she had baked for Konata which was destroyed at her party. The picture they had taken of Konata on her birthday when she walked in. A picture Konata had taken of Kagami roughly kissing Miyuki on a dare. All the pictures did was make her miss her big sister even more. Something about Kagami dying just didn't make sense to her, Kagami wasn't supposed to die. Kagami was smart, beautiful, a good shot, and practically led the three of them through the wastes. Her dying just wasn't possible.

Just as she was thinking that, the door to her room opened and some stepped in backwards firing green bolts of fire from their plasma rifle back out. As they turned around Tsukasa got a better look, it was a woman with long lilac hair that flowed freely down her back and over her shoulders. She was wearing a deep indigo sleeveless outfit, with high boots and gloves, with a gasmask around the neck. The woman had a plasma rifle which was maze of tubes and glowing green compartments around a narrow body. Tsukasa recognized this person from somewhere…

**SOMETHING WORTH FIGHTING FOR**

Kagami made it to the first floor of Raven Rock without to much problems. On the third floor Eden cleared the way for her using turrets and robots to hack a path through. Kuroi had split the Enclave here into two factions, those following her who were gunned down, and other who lowered their weapons and let Kagami pass since they still were loyal to Eden.

The second floor was a bit trickier, the weren't as many turrets, so Kagami had to fight her way though a lot of soldiers. At first it was extremely difficult since they were trained soldiers, and she had taken quite a few burns getting through them. Midway through the second floor she decided to drop her laser rifle for a plasma rifle. It was a good decision since it burned through power armor like paper, and took microfusion batteries just like her old weapon.

On the first floor she came across a group of soldiers pinned down by turrets, one unleashed a gattling laser at her forcing her to fall back. She hit the "open" button of a random door and walked backwards into it while firing.

Kagami turned around and saw what had to be a ghost. A girl who was exactly her height and weight, with short lilac hair that barely touched her shoulders. She was wearing the tight spandex white jumpsuit that Enclave scientists wore, minus the creepy facemask. _There's nothing to say about it, that's Tsukasa…that's Tsukasa._

Throwing any sense of decency or modesty aside, Kagami sprinted across the small room and grabbed her previously thought dead sister in her arms and kissed her square on the lips. When Kagami released her Tsukasa gave her a bewildered look.

"Th-thanks…" Tsukasa replied barely able to speak, "Excuse me but…who are you?"

"Tsukasa it's me Kagami!" The older twin replied excitedly, it was the first time she had smiled in what felt like months, (two weeks actually, almost all of which she spent sedated).

The younger girl gave her a strange look, then glanced at a syringe on the desk she had been sitting at. "No you're not…Kagami's…Onee-chan's dead, Nana-chan said so."

"What?" Was all Kagami was able to say. The only Nana she knew had deep purple hair and horns and, as Kagami believed, wasn't at the liberty to say if she was dead or not. "Tsukasa it's me, wait why do you think I'm dead. You're the one who's supposed to be dead."

Tsukasa giggled like it was some sort of joke. "Dead, why would I be dead?"

"I saw you get shot by Kuroi!" Kagami snapped back, frustrated at the way her sister was acting. She was afraid that Enclave had done something to her brain.

"Nana-chan didn't shoot me." Tsukasa told her, Kagami instantly realized who Nana-chan was.

"Of course she did, I watched." Kagami told her sister as calmly as she could, "I don't know what they did to you but I'm getting you out."

Tsukasa looked around nervously, "I can't just leave, they need me here. B-besides I don't even know if you're Kagami or not."

Kagami thought for a moment before replying, she needed someway that was sure to prove that she was the real Kagami, and not some imposter who looked and sounded exactly the same. "Tsukasa when we were fifteen you were baking…something… for everyone and when we walked into check on you made it explode by dropping a drop of balsamic vinegar into it. It set my pants on fire remember?"

Tsukasa looked up at her and studied Kagami's face intensely for a few moments. "It is you isn't it!" She threw her arms around her big sister, "I knew you weren't dead, you couldn't be dead!"

"There'll be time for that later, right now we have to get out of here." Kagami said and wiped the tears out of her sisters eyes.

"I…I can't Onee-chan, I told you that they need me here." Tsukasa whimpered. "I want to leave but Nana-chan already said how important I was to them." That wasn't the real reason though, Tsukasa was deeply terrified of what the others would think of her. She had been gone for over a month and had spent it helping the Enclave. There was no way that anyone would forgive her for it.

Kagami took a deep breath and thought of a good way to word what she was thinking, "Tsukasa, listen. These people aren't who they say they are, your Nana-chan, or Kuroi as I know her, is the one who captured me. She broke my arm after stealing the GECK I worked hard to get, not to mention she shot you in the hip at the Jefferson Memorial. If it weren't for President Eden she would have killed me not even an hour ago."

Tsukasa shook her head and more tears streaked down her face, "No that can't be true, Nana-chan would never do that, you've got the wrong person. Sh-She said that someone gave her the GECK nicely and…and that Kona-chan's dad gave Project Purity to her before he died in the accident and…and…and…" She broke off into sobs.

Kagami hugged her tighter and whispered into her ear, "Shh, it's going to be okay…stop crying now, it's going to be okay." After a few minutes Tsukasa crying was demoted to sniffling, "Wait, what accident are you talking about?"

"There was an explosion or something, it knocked me out so I don't remember it. Kona-chan's dad died in it and it hurt my leg really bad, now I have to walk with a cane." Tsukasa answered still sniffling.

"Did you get hurt right here?" Kagami asked and tapped the spot where she remembered Kuroi shooting her.

"Yeah…how did you know that?" The younger twin replied in amazement.

"Because that's were Kuroi shot you." Kagami answered grimly. "Come on we need to get out of here."

"I guess she really wasn't on my side at all." Tsukasa muttered as her sister stood up, she felt a pit in her stomach form. Her only friend had been deceiving her along, using her to help the Enclave in their evil goals. She felt so stupid and useless right now.

"Coming?" Kagami asked standing at the other side of the room.

Tsukasa gave her an embarrassed look. She grabbed her cane and pulled herself up, then slowly limped over to her sister.

"What's that about?" The older twin asked looking at Tsukasa leaning on a metal cane.

"I can't walk without this, the explo- I mean bullet messed up my hip bone." Tsukasa answered embarrassedly.

Kagami sighed and looked around while thinking of a better solution, after a minute of thinking she replied. "Here, I'll carry you out."

"I won't slow you down will I?" The younger twin asked nervously and walked behind Kagami.

"Trust me we'll get out faster like this." Kagami assured her, with an added forced laugh. Tsukasa wrapped her arms around Kagami's neck and her legs around her waste in the most comfortable position she could manage. "Comfortable?"

"Yeah, thanks a lot onee-chan, maybe things will go back to normal when we get out." Tsukasa said hopefully.

"Don't count on it, keep your head down I doubt we're gonna get through this without getting a shot or two taken at us." Kagami replied and picked up her plasma rifle. She felt better than she had in a long time with Tsukasa on her back, luckily she was light and didn't hinder her agility too much. She tapped the "open" button and walked back out.

The turrets and Sentrybots had killed the soldiers outside while she was gone, so Kagami was free to keep moving on. After following a few signs she found a long wide hallway that was lined with corpses from the turrets. Kagami stepped past them and kept moving on.

She stepped between two large turrets over several heavily armed dead bodies, and pushed the "open" button of a large metal door. Bright sunlight washed over the two of them as Kagami stepped into the light. They came out into paved area, above them a pack of Vertibird helicopters flew over heading southeast in the direction of the Jefferson Memorial. Little did they know Kuroi was aboard one of them.

Kagami carefully stepped down a rocky path, it looked like they were situated somewhere in the mountains and judging by the fact that they couldn't see the D.C. ruins in the southeast, they were pretty far away. In the distance Kagami could here the concentrated fire of a gattling laser blasting away.

The trail leading south was lined with the bodies of dead Enclave soldiers who had their armor melted away from a flurry of lasers. _The enemy of my enemy is my friend. _Kagami remembered.

And a friend it indeed was, around an outcropping of rocks Kagami saw a Super Mutant clad in a torn vault jumpsuit blasting away at the last surviving Enclave soldier out there.

"Fawkes!" Kagami cried and waved. "What are you doing here?"

"Is he on our side?" Tsukasa asked from over her shoulder.

"Yeah, he's a smart Super Mutant who helped me find the GECK." Kagami replied. Fawkes ran awkwardly over to the two of them, after spending so long in a cell he was having trouble getting the whole running thing down.

"My friend, I came as soon as I heard you had been captured. It is disappointing I was unable to aid your escape." Fawkes greeted.

"Thanks anyways, believe it or not, but President Eden just let me walk out." Kagami replied, "I don't think he's a bad guy, it's Kuroi corrupting the Enclave."

"I dearly hope your trust is not misplaced." Fawkes said, uncertain of Kagami's opinion of the Enclave, from what he had seen they were an evil corporation who were half responsible for his imprisonment. "Hmm, is the one on your back part of your litter?"

Kagami chuckled, "Fawkes, I already told you humans don't have litters. But yes I found her on my way out." Tsukasa raised an arm and waved shyly.

"Now that you are free, but the enemy has the GECK what will you do?" Fawkes asked.

"Yeah, what're we going to do onee-chan?" Tsukasa asked as well.

Kagami stared off into the horizon and thought for a few minutes in silence, the other two respected this and said nothing. She thought over everything that had happened to her and her friends and family.

"We're going to the Brotherhood of Steel to stop Kuroi and her minions and make them pay for everything they did to me and everyone else…" She finally spoke up. "…But first I need to find Konata."

"Yay Kona-chan's still okay." Tsukasa cheered, "Wait why do we need to go see her first?" As far as she knew there were no errands present that required her, still it would be good to see her again.

"Because…" Kagami began to answer, "…I made a promise that I intend to keep."

**OFF TO MAKE AMENDS **

The only allusions in this chapter are Kuroi's computer background which is the first page of Chapter 92 of Elfen Lied. The other is Kagami pointing out Nana from Elfen Lied when Tsukasa mentions Nana-chan. _But Tastychainsaws Nana's hair is pink not purple. _Not in the manga it isn't.

I rewrote this chapter in several places and it's actually a lot darker than it previously was. What Kuroi did to Kagami was added in later, as was Kagami beating the Enclave officer to death with her fists.

So the end is coming up pretty soon and there are a few questions that are still unanswered it looks like.

Will they take back Project Purity and distribute clean water to everyone?

Where did Ayano go?

Will Minami and Cherry ever reunite?

Will Tastychainsaws go fucking crazy and kill off every character at the end of the story?

Most importantly…Will Kagami and Konata ever get their kiss?


	20. Ragnarok's Eve

Falling Stars Chapter 19, Ragnarok's Eve

I'll admit I'm kinda unsure how this chapter is gonna go since I don't have a real definite idea for it. But I am the self-proclaimed master of improvising so it should go fine.

Woo broke fifty reviews, this makes me happy face. I noticed in the reviews that there is a lot of talk about what's going to happen in the end, all I can say is don't worry I got it all planned out. Just don't expect things to follow the game completely is all I'm going to say.

**BITTER BETRAYAL**

"…Well long story short the grenade blew up and everyone but me was killed." Misao said finishing her story. Konata glared at her scarcely believing the tale.

"Hmm, I got one." The blunette said after a minute of thinking. "Did I tell you about the time I infiltrated a Mirelurk hideout and planted a secret camera in their spawning area?"

Misao laughed, "Yeah and I still don't believe you. Hey looks like Three Dog has some news…"

The two of them went silent and began to listen to the radio, "…You think you're sad now, children? Just wait till you hear the latest on the Capital Wasteland's very own Bringer of Sorrow. Cue the crying."

"A title that hints at evil, this couldn't be about Kagami?" Konata thought out loud hopefully. Even if Kagami had done something bad it was still good to hear she was still alive, after two weeks she had really begun to worry. Plus it was amusing to see what over exaggerated nonsense they had come up with this time.

"I'm coming to you live with a special report! We haven't heard squat about the little prick from Vault 101 for two weeks, and hoped to God someone finally put a bullet in her brain. Well no such luck. She was seen not too long ago walking away from the Enclave's not-so-secret base way out to the northwest. Well that's... That's just great. The Vault kid from hell is now in cahoots with the devil himself. If Eden declares this kid vice president, I swear to God I'll swallow this microphone."

Music started playing again, it was a song Misao didn't like so she turned it off. Behind her Konata was staring at her feet.

"She…she betrayed us." The emerald eyed girl muttered in disbelief. "No, that can't be it. There's more to it…"

Misao put her hand on the smaller girls shoulder and remained silent, going any further than that would have been awkward after what she had done earlier.

**DIFFERENT WAYS**

They had set off early morning heading southeast. Despite having to carry Tsukasa, they were making excellent progress through the wastes. The three of them- Kagami, Tsukasa, and Fawkes, were attacked twice. Once by a group of Radscorpions and once by a Deathclaw. Kagami was terrified of seeing another one of those monsters that had flayed her, but with her new plasma rifle and Fawkes' gattling laser the thing died before it could even get close to them.

In the distance a town started to emerge from the horizon, it was an unprotected cluster of buildings that were half prewar homes half junk. Kagami noticed that Fawkes had greatly slowed his pace.

"Something wrong?" She turned around and asked.

"Although you understand that I am not a primal beast, instead of others like me, I doubt other humans will show the same reasoning." He replied.

Kagami thought for a moment, "What should we do then?"

"I think you two should explore the town and attempt to barter or find out what has happened since you were gone. Information is a very valuable currency." Fawkes answered, "I, myself, will travel to the Museum of History as I originally planned."

"Bye then." Kagami said and waved, "I can't thank you enough for everything you've done, you were the only one who really bothered to step in and help me."

"I am the one who should be thanking you. You stood up and fought for what you believed in and along the way rescued me from a life on imprisonment." Fawkes replied and outstretched his hand, Kagami shook it and they went on their separate ways. Short simple goodbyes, the way she liked it.

Tsukasa had fallen asleep on her back awhile ago and Kagami was eager to be off her feet. As she approached the town began to look more and more desolate, there were a few figures shuffling about the main street like zombies and that was about it for population. She walked over a knocked over interstate sign which had "Welcome to Big Town" written on it in black spray paint. So this was the legendary Big Town she had heard of, a place where people went when they had no where left to go. The kids from Little Lamplight went there once they hit adulthood.

Big Town was surrounded by a thin wall of car parts and frames with various bits of scrap metal reinforcing it. Kagami walked passed a few Super Mutant corpses that were rotting in the sun and passed over a rope bridge that spanned a pool of tepid water.

"Hey hold it right there!" A man wearing a prewar riot police outfit complete with the helmet shouted. He was pointed a worn out hunting rifle at her. "State your business here, I don't want any trouble."

"Hey, I'm just looking for somewhere to trade and a place to rest before heading off again." Kagami said defensively and threw her arms in the air.

"Well you're welcome to look around but you wont find anything to trade, this place is a ghost town. Name's Dusty by the way." He told her, Kagami could sense the fear and hopelessness in his voice. When she and Konata had stayed with Minami and listened to her stories Dusty's name had popped up a few times. From what she had heard apparently Dusty had lived in Big Town longer than anyone and had defended it from Slaver and Super Mutant attacks more times than anyone could count.

"Kagami Hiiragi, this is my sister Tsukasa." She replied and nudged her sleeping sister.

"Hiiragi, hmm sounds familiar. Anyways just try not to cause any trouble, already had one newcomer starting fights." He told her. Kagami walked over the rest of the bridge into the desolate waste that Big Town was. The setting sun gave the place an eerie deserted look. There were a few people walking about in the shadows with their heads down with extreme melancholy. In one of the long shadows cast by a low house there was a group of people sitting in against the wall who even in the dark looked out of place.

Kagami stepped forward to get a better look at them, her heart froze and she felt her legs go numb. She blinked rapidly just in case something was wrong with her eyes, these people couldn't be here…that was impossible.

One of them stood and walked into the sun baked sand letting the rays of light illuminate her previously hidden features. It was Matsuri.

"What…Is…This…I…Don't….Even…" Kagami stuttered trying to make words, her rational mind tried desperately to come up with a conclusion about why her family was here. _Remember you told Yukari to open the Vault for trade and expansion, well that's what they're doing._

"Kagami, I have to admit you're looking a lot like an angel right now." Matsuri said in surprise, "Come over here with the rest of us, there's a lot to talk about." Kagami said nothing and carried Tsukasa over there with her, Matsuri sounded exhausted and irritated which wasn't surprising since that's how Kagami felt fifteen chapters ago.

There were five of them and in the dim light Kagami could now see them clearly in their Vault 101 jumpsuits. Her father, Tadao was sitting with his back against the concrete wall with his wife, Miki, with her head on his lap, she was fast asleep. Next to them was her older sister Inori drawing circles in the sand, neither her nor their father had realized Kagami was even standing right there. It was the fifth person who noticed her.

"Ka-Kagami-san?" Miyuki stammered, the pink haired girl stood up to meet her face to face.

"Miyuki, what's going on, why are you all out here?" Kagami asked in utter confusion. Inori and Tadao looked up and both said her name in unison.

"It's hard to say, it happened so fast." Miyuki said quietly like she was in a dreamlike trance, "Men in black metal armor came in and forced us all out so they could salvage the place for anything useful. That's what I made out of it at least."

Kagami's knees buckled and she fell into the cool sand, "No…no…no… Enclave went too far this time, they…" She stuttered barely believing what she heard.

Miyuki helped her back to her feet, "Kagami-san please don't worry too much about it. They said once they've left we can come back."

The lilac haired girl shook her head, "No, they're lying. They always lie. Hold on do you have a place to stay?"

"Afraid not." Inori said sadly. "We're stuck here with no money or supplies, this is the only place that takes people like us. I'm sorry I'm not more excited to see you but…"

"I understand." Kagami replied and set Tsukasa down next to the two of them. "I have place you can stay at, it's called Tenpenny Tower, I'll give you directions."

"Thank you so much, it looks like even out here you've taken charge of your life." Her father said, "Your mothers going to be overjoyed when she sees you and Tsukasa safe, she was really worried when you left."

"I thought Tsukasa was supposed to be dead." Matsuri commented giving Kagami a suspicious look. Kagami thought she looked downright menacing with her laser rifle on her back. What was scarier was the fact that Matsuri reminded Kagami of herself in a lot of ways, she tried not to think about it.

"I did too." Kagami replied bluntly and finished writing something on a piece of paper. "Here follow this route and stay on the main roads, try to group of with a caravan if you can."

"You're not staying?" Miyuki gasped in surprise.

"I can't. Not now at least, still a lot of things I have to do." The lilac haired girl said barely above a whisper. "There's a lot of stuff going on right now, Tsukasa will be able to fill you in when she wakes up. I'm going after the person who did this to you and nearly killed Tsukasa, I'm not coming back until she's dead."

The rest of her family looked at her and said nothing, each of them wanted to say something but didn't know the situation enough to comment on it. It was a third party that spoke up.

"You're a fool Hiiragi." A female monotone voice said from the shadows.

"Minami?" Kagami said in surprise. On cue the green haired girl emerged from the ally way she had been the whole time, and as always Yutaka was at her side. Kagami looked at her with a small degree of terror from the fact that Minami had red smeared around her mouth and hands.

"I know you're going after Kuroi. Do yourself and your family a favor and don't." Minami told her and wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her duster.

"How the hell do you manage to show up everywhere? Whatever, no, she took too much away from me to just let her go." Kagami argued.

"Your pride will be your downfall." Iwasaki said nearly hissing at her, Kagami thought Minima had always been a bit creepy but in the dim light she looked downright demonic. "Even if you can get past all the Enclave soldiers, sentry guns, and Vertibirds into the Jefferson Memorial she'll be there with her Honor Guard. If you somehow kill them she'll put a bullet in your brain herself."

"I won't loose." Kagami said adamantly.

"This isn't a game!" Minami snapped and threw off her duster, she was wearing a white tank top underneath. "She gained her rank by being better than everyone else the came across. I hate her just as much as you do and maybe more but I know better than to fight her, I learned my lesson many times."

She raised her elbow and showed Kagami a jagged scar running down it, "This is when she broke my elbow." Then she raised her pant leg and exposed another scar at her knee. "This is where she stabbed me..." For her last spectacle she lowered part of her tank top and exposed her breasts to Kagami, the flesh was discolored and warped on the right one, and it left her breasts looking unsymmetrical. "…and this is from when she lit a barn full of hostages on fire with me and two others still in there."

"I'm not going to be alone though." Kagami said defensively,

"Then you can all die together. " Minami said. Kagami walked past her quietly and growled at her.

Miyuki started after her but Minami stopped her with her arm. "Let her go, maybe she'll surprise us." She said sarcastically.

Before Miyuki could even say anything Minami had slid back into the shadows as quickly as she had arrived.

**HOME SWEET HOME?**

"Minami-chan, are you crying?" Yutaka asked, thin streams of moisture were running down her friend's cheeks. After Kagami left, the two of them climbed onto a building next to where Dusty was watching the bridge. They were barely out of earshot of him.

"No." Minami replied and looked away so Yutaka couldn't see her wipe the moisture from her face. She turned back around and looked off into the sunset, nothing had changed since she had been an adolescent keeping watch. The sunset, the town, her favorite spot, everything was still the same. The truth was that she had been crying, she had broken a promise that she had made more than a decade ago.

"_I'm going to be a hero, then I'm going to come back and save everyone here. No one will have to worry about slavers, raiders, or Super Mutants ever again!" She had confidently told her mother._

Now here she was eleven years later, she had the power to go and eradicate all of the towns threats. However, she no longer had the will to do so. That dream had died along with the little girl she had been so long ago. A little girl with eyes wide with dreams and passion, it was too bad that the wasteland didn't quite turn out to be what she had expected

"It sure is pretty." Yutaka said, commenting on the sunset.

"Yes it is, this used to be my favorite spot as a kid." Minami replied, "Yutaka you're shivering."

"It's a little cold out here, I'll be fine." The smaller girl replied with a smile. Minami eased out of her leather duster and placed it over Yutaka's shoulders.

"Thank's Minami-chan." Yutaka whispered and snuggled into the duster, it was more like a blanket for the small girl. She leaned against Minami and the tall girl place an arm around her. "You don't like it here anymore, do you?"

Minami stared off into the sunset and remained silent for a minute before replying. "Yes. The only reason I came back was to show you this spot and…"

"What was the other reason?"

"To gloat in Dusty's face. When I left he laughed and said I would be dead in a week, but look where I ended up. I became an officer for the Enclave, started my own successful settlement and am making progress in helping others with the same problem we have."

"You don't sound happy about it." Yutaka speculated. Minami just sighed, Yutaka was right, she was always right. Nobody could peer into her soul like that girl could.

"I'm not because nothing's changed. The people are different now, but it's the same old thing. The only two people still here have completely alienated me, and for the way I behaved, I deserved it. In a way I'm not welcome in the town that's considered rock bottom." Minami said to her. "After everything I did to get away from here, I feel sad knowing that I can't come back."

"You're here now aren't you?" Yuatak asked, Minami appreciated the direct question.

"Am I though?" She replied and shook her head. "I'm up here, out of sight and out of mind. Personally, I blame those people in Arefu. We let them live, only for them to spread lies about us being monsters from children's fairy tails. I've been called a vampire more than once here. It was me who rescued those kids from the Super Mutants north at German Town."

"That was you?" Yutaka gasped, she had no idea that her friend had been the one who had conducted that rescue. A week ago some mysterious figure had gone and rescued two of Big Town's residents after they were captured by Super Mutants. "When did you manage to do that?"

"It was during the day when you were asleep." Minami replied. "They know it was me too, yet I am not treated with an ounce respect. Not even out of fear."

"I didn't think you wanted respect." Yutaka speculated. "You said so yourself."

Minami chuckled and hugged Yutaka tightly against her. "I don't know how you always manage to put my mind to ease, but you do. Every single time, where would I be with out you?" With that she gently kissed Yutaka's forehead; her lips left two red marks like she had been wearing lipstick.

The two sat and just held each other while the sun set in the distance. Minami decided it was time to begin her nightly activities, there was a lot to do. Tonight she was planning on sabotaging the Enclave turrets established up the Potomac river to guard the Jefferson Memorial. She silently lifted Yutaka as gently as she could, she didn't want to wake the frail girl. However, Yutaka was not asleep, she was breathing heavily, her forehead shined with cool sweat, and she was shivering harder. Minami set her down gently as quick as she could.

"What's wrong?"

Yutaka gave her an innocent yet embarrassed look. "I feel it…the…the…"

"The hunger." Minami quietly finished her sentence. "Wait, what about the blood from the transfusion pack we found?"

"I didn't drink it." Yutaka admitted, she had begun to lightly cry, "I know you want me too but it's just so icky!"

Minami silently nodded in reply, Yutaka cringed at that. Although her face didn't change, she knew that had meant that Minami was disappointed in her.

"Minami-chan it's really strong this time, please do something, I'm really scared!" Yutaka pleaded, Minami remained silent and thought over her possibilities.

"Feast not on the flesh; consume only the blood. This is our strength." Minami said, reciting her first law, "We do not eat the flesh of those we kill for food. We will only drink of their blood and leave the body intact. The consumption of flesh is filthy and unclean. This action is what causes the humans to treat us like animals. We are not animals, we are The Family."

"Minami…" Yutaka whispered, something about those words was empowering. She watched as Minami unsheathed a combat knife from her boot and eyed the razor-sharp edge.

"The Third Law- Feed not for pleasure; partake only for nourish. This is our dignity. We only kill the humans when we are hungry or when we must defend ourselves, we never hunt for sport or pleasure. We do not prey on children for they are not yet tainted by society's view of us. The Family will not tolerate murder." Minami said in a hallowed voice that chilled Yutaka to the bone. She raised the knife to her wrist and cut horizontally across it. Yutaka flinched at this, but her eyes lit up with unnatural hunger. "When I was alone I would try to keep the hunger at bay. You must never try to subdue it, for it shall only return with greater strength. Never forget the face of your parents."

Yutaka could barely hear her, she just stared upwards at the blood flowing from Minami's wrist. Her mind became fuzzy and her thoughts distorted, she wanted to say something -anything- to Minami; but nothing could come forth.

The hunger took over and she brought her lips to Minami's wrist and indulged herself in the Family's lifeblood.

**RETURN**

It was around midnight and Konata and Misao were finding more ways to pass the time. Konata had realized that the Brotherhood of Steel weren't much more than glorified scavengers who had found all sorts of stuff, but the two of them were having trouble finding anything of value out of everything that was in the Citadel. Value to them at least.

The two of them resituated themselves to the Courtyard, and were walking along some of the shooting ranges; talking about nothing in particular.

"…Then I say, I don't care if it's a kid she still owes me four quarts of napalm." Misao said, finishing yet another story Konata didn't believe. "Then her dad freaks out and-"

She was cut off when someone walked into her. "Hey, watch where you're going!" Misao cried and got back on her feet.

"Sorry about that, wait what the hell are you doing here?" The lilac haired girl who had bumped into her replied. Konata's emerald eyes lit up and a thousand different feeling surged through her when she saw who it was.

"Kagami!" She yelled and practically tackled her long lost tsundere.

"Yes I'm happy to see you too." Kagami grunted and hefted the blunette off of her, she sounded distant and exhausted.

"Sorry I know you don't like it when I do that, but I'm just so happy to see you!" Konata replied and kept on hugging her.

"There'll be time for that later, there's work that needs doing. The Enclave stole the GECK from me and are planning to start Project Purity soon, we need to tell everyone." Kagami told her and calmly pried her off.

"Kagami wait!" Konata called and followed her as she started walking away. She seemed even more driven than normal, like something was compelling her forward. Since nearly everyone was asleep all Kagami could manage to do was schedule a meeting with all the higher-ups about what to do next.

**BEST LAID PLANS…**

Konata had hoped to talk to Kagami about everything the previous night but she just collapsed on her old bed without saying a word. Konata noticed her normal calm sleeping face was replaced by a disturbed restless one. Eventually she drifted off, feeling extremely disconnected from her friend.

When she woke up Kagami was already gone, it didn't take long to find her. She was in the large meeting room alone sitting at one of the two massive semicircle tables.

"What're you doing here alone?" Konata asked, it was only about six in the morning and people were barely getting into their coffee.

"Waiting for the meeting they scheduled at nine." She replied and took a sip of black coffee.

Konata couldn't help but her roll her eyes, "Okay what's going on? You've been acting really weird since you got back, like you're really determined all of a sudden."

"Because I am really determined, if we don't act soon the Enclave wins." Kagami replied, "I guess I have been a little vague though…"

"Just a little." Konata agreed and made a little sign with her fingers while scrunching her face. "I know the GECK was stolen but what else happened?"

Kagami took a deep breath and replied, "In Vault 87 Kuroi ambushed me and took me to Raven Rock, the Enclaves base, I managed to escape with Tsukasa."

"Tsukasa's alive!?" Konata exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, she's in Big Town with my parents and Miyuki."

"What are they doing in Big Town with Miyuki?"

Kagami sighed and began to recount her tale…

As she was finishing explaining everything, Akira, Minoru, and the Brotherhood's leader Elder Lyons, entered and took their seats.

"I'm glad to see you two are hear bright and early." Lyons said sincerely. He was an aging man with long white beard and purple embroidered robes, with his friendly caring demeanor he had more of a grandfatherly look than the disposition of the leader of a warring faction.

"When's the soonest we can rally?" Kagami replied in a no nonsense tone.

"It all depends on the severity of the situation, " Lyons explained, "If this is as big of a threat as you made it out to be then possibly tomorrow."

"Tomorrow!?" Konata and Akira shouted in unison.

"Tomorrows good." Kagami said and nodded. Very little conversation was made as they waited for the other Sentinels and several important scribes to show up so they could begin.

When everyone was accounted for Minoru spoke up, "Thank you everyone for coming here on such short notice but we have a lot of urgent news. As you may already know the Enclave has stolen the GECK from one of our collaborators Hiiragi-san, with this they can activate the purifier at the Jefferson Memorial and begin using it for their own gains. We believe they will use it to extort and tax the people of the Capital Wastes on something that should be free to all, now is the time to strike before they can activate it."

After a brief wave of murmurs and comments he spoke again, "Hiiragi herself would like to say a few words."

"Thanks Shiraishi." She said as he sat down, "Ahem." She began, "A lot of you must be thinking right now something along the lines of, why should I care about this? Why should I risk my life for this? I'll tell you why, everyone of us here is irradiated. We get irradiated nearly every time we drink water, not all of us are able to get treatment for it though. Just over twenty years ago a young woman had a dream to end that, she and her husband found a way possible do just that. Things fell through then just over a month ago her husband and daughter come back and find a way to finish it. As they were putting in the finishing touches to give everyone free water, the Enclave swoops in and takes it over. Like Minoru said, don't expect them to be giving it out for free."

After a few seconds of murmurs between the Sentinels someone finally spoke up, "Alright, it's a good cause. Hell, I know I have radiation sickness myself, but have you seen the set up they have over there? Three force barriers, dozens of armed soldiers and Vertibirds. We simply don't have the man power to compete with that."

Arguing broke out with two sides, one group saying it was a suicide mission, and another saying they could do it.

Elder Lyons stood up and everyone ceased talking. "We've been working on ways to combat Vertibirds for sometime, unlike our Brothers out west we do not have our own." He said, "Scribe Rothschild believes we may have found a way to fight their aerial support and destroy their barriers at once."

On cue a man with white, balding hair in deep red robes stood up, "As many of you know we've been working on a project for sometime, honestly I don't think it's-"

"Can you make it work?" Lyons interrupted.

"Well we've never done any live tests, the weapons, self power, motion, and targeting parameters are up and working but I really don't think Liberty Prime is ready for a live fire course, none the less one of this magnitude." Rothschild said, sounding unsure of himself.

"This is as good a time as any to try." Lyons said, silencing him. "Sentinel Shiraishi, I understand you've been working on some battle plans."

"Yes Sir." Minoru said with a bow, "I've been discussing this with the other Sentinels for awhile and we believe we have a decent strategy. We'll split up into two groups. Group Spearhead will charge in and take control of the Purifier and will consist of Liberty Prime, Akira's and my team along with-"

"I want to be the one who puts a bullet in Kuroi's head." Kagami interrupted, "I'm with Spearhead."

Before Minoru could protest Konata jumped in, "I won't let my Kagamin have all the fun, count me in too."

"Alright then." Minoru muttered, "The other three squads that-"

"Don't forget about me!" Misao yelled and jumped up, "I wanna be there too!" The room went silent and everyone stared at her.

Eventually a Sentinel with a heavy British accent yelled out, "Oi! Who the fuck is that!?"

"Dun worry mate, she's got a gauss rifle she does. That's good enough for me." Another Sentinel with an equally heavy accent told him.

The meeting continued relatively smoothly, another three squads were chosen to accompany Spearhead. Considering the severity of the situation, it was decided that all available troops would attack in the morning. To divert their forces, the Rivet Team security, headed by Patricia Martin, would attack from the north as the Brotherhood attacked from down the highway.

As everyone was leaving to go make more preparations, Kagami made a quick decision. _This is it, tomorrow I'm on the frontline for a massive battle. I could very well get killed, but if I do die I want to Konata to know…I want her to know how sorry I am for everything, and how I never meant any of those horrible things I said. And…and that I think I love her._

She caught up with the blunette as she was walking to the door that led outside. "Hey Konata, can we talk for a bit?"

"Sure Kagami, what's up?" Konata replied, happy to see Kagami was in a better mood.

"I just wanted to say-" She began before being interrupted.

"Izumi right?" An African American woman with a crew cut wearing power armor said after walking in between Kagami and Konata.

"Yeah, do I know you?" Konata replied, sounding a little irritated at Kagami being interrupted like that.

"Sort of, my name is Paladin Cross. I was with the group that guarded the Jefferson Memorial when your parents were working on Project Purity, I knew your mother personally." She explained.

"You knew my mom?" Konata asked rhetorically, she was excited to possibly find out more about her mother. She had little success prying any information out of her dad about her, he had been reluctant to say anything beyond how caring and nice she was. It was almost like he was hiding something.

"Yes I did, and the reason I wanted to talk to you was because I think I knew where a box of her old things is around here." Cross replied, "Want to see it?"

"Definitely!" Konata cheered, "Wanna come too Kagami?"

Kagami let out a mournful sigh and looked at the ground, "No thanks, I'm going to go lay down for a bit." She said and walked off, Konata gave her a confused look, but let it go.

The lilac haired girl stormed into the small bedroom she was staying in, she was mad. Every time she felt brave enough to show any sort of intimacy with Konata. something would happen; at least this time it didn't have four foot swords for claws.

Kagami decided that after this was all over she would drag Konata aside somewhere they could be completely alone, and set up landmines around the perimeter to prevent any intruders from ruining the moment. Every time she thought of her and Konata as more than just friends, her heartbeat sped up and her mouth went dry. It was mix of longing and anxiety, she had never had any romantic involvement with anyone, besides a pistol, and the thought of it made her very nervous. _Come on Kagami you're freaking out over the thought of your first kiss, _A voice in her mind that sounded suspiciously like Misao consoled, _I mean it's not like losing your virginity or something…Which Kuroi is responsible for stealing…_

That thought was followed by a brief image of her and Konata intertwined naked under a glass moon in a starlit night. Together body and soul. She chased that thought away and did what she always did when her thoughts turned saucy. Mentally recited the Periodic Table of Elements backwards, all 136 of them.

**DIGGING UP THE PAST**

Cross led Konata into a deep storage area of the Citadel that looked almost abandoned with all its cobwebs and dust. It held mostly personal belongings from members who died in the field and were never able to reclaim them.

The Paladin stopped at a metal footlocker and wiped a blanket of dust off it, "This looks like it." She said and slid it towards Konata.

She was apparently correct, the word _Kanata _was scrawled into the top. Konata opened the rusty latch and pulled the top up. The first thing she found surprised her, since it was the last thing she would have expected.

It was power armor, not full power armor but bits and pieces. It was black and dotted with rust, it looked like an outdated model of the Enclave's armor. Konata raised the chest piece against her body and saw that it was almost exactly her size. Along with it her shoulder pieces that drooped down over her upper arm, covering most of it, part of the gauntlets that went over her forearms, then part of the legs that protected her shins. Every thing else including the helmet was gone.

"It fits you perfectly." Cross remarked after seeing Konata don it.

Although it was riddled with dents from bullet holes, and spotted with rust, it still looked protective. "This was my mom's, why would she have this? Was she with the Brotherhood or Enclave?"

"Neither." Cross replied, "If I remember right she made that suit years before she came to the Capital Wastes, If my memory serves me right that's a stripped down version of the Enclave's old Tesla Armor model."

"She…made this?" Konata said, barely able to believe that, still it explained why it was so much smaller than any other model she had come across. She went back to looking through the foot locker, the next thing she found was a faded photograph.

It was a picture of Kanata wearing her modified armor with blue garments underneath it, what surprised Konata the most was how she was armed to the teeth. From the angle of the picture she could a shotgun on her back, a sniper rifle, and two pistols on either side of her belt, and an SMG strapped across her torso for easy access. Konata couldn't help but wonder just what her mother did before meeting her dad. In the picture she had her two fingers in a piece sign with a fedora in her other hand. The caption read- _Greetings from New Reno 3/13/54_. Four years before Konata was born.

The next thing Konata dug out was a sharpened spear head, she assumed it had some random sentimental value.

The last two things she found were a rusted pistol that had seen a lot of use and another photograph. It was a picture of Kanata looking over the side of a large overpass into the sunset, her blue hair was flowing freely in the wind. The pistol wasn't so much as a pistol but a stripped down rifle, it looked like the .223 hunting rifle Kagami had used when the first arrived in the wastes but carved down into pistol form.

**INTIMACY**

Kagami heard the door open behind her and could tell just by the footsteps that it was Konata, "I swear every time I try to talk to you I- _Aaagh!" _She blurted out after seeing what the blunette was wearing. "How old is that?"

"At least twenty years why…like it?" Konata joked and posed.

"That looks like something a raider would wear you know." Kagami commented, "Anyways, did you find anything cool?"

"Just some pictures and this armor, oh yeah and this pistol." Konata replied and showed Kagami the custom made weapon.

"Oh wow this is good, huh, I wonder what kind of ammo it takes." Kagami remarked and set it down.

"You can keep it you want."

"You're giving me this?" Kagami said, unsure of how to react. it was such a nice piece of craftsmanship and it had belonged to her mother.

"Yeah, I thought- Hey if I got power armor, then Kagami deserves something right?" Konata told her.

"Thanks." Kagami replied with a blush, she was relatively unaccustomed to receiving gifts like that. There was a silence between as Konata sat down on the floor, Kagami thought for a moment than broke the silence.

"I realized tomorrow things could go really bad…" Kagami began.

"Don't worry, I don't know if you've seen Liberty Prime, but with that that thing the Enclave doesn't stand a chance." Konata interrupted before Kagami could go down a negative path.

"That's why I said _could_." Kagami replied, "Anyways I don't want to go out without getting this off my chest…"

Konata stood up and sat next to her.

"I said a lot of things that I didn't mean, and it's eating me up inside." Kagami continued, she could feel her eyes beginning to burn with tears, "I never meant to say those awful things and hurt you…I had so many problems and still do and all I did was either try to mask them with drugs or blame you. Everything that happened at Raven Rock, what Kuroi did to me; I deserved it." On the drug subject, strangely Kagami hadn't felt a single urge for morphine at all since Raven Rock.

"I didn't want to go out to battle without letting you know that. Letting you know that I-" Like many times before she was interrupted again.

Misao burst through the door with one of the targets from the shooting range designed to look like a Super Mutant, "Look guys I found a pogo-stick!" She screamed.

Kagami's jaw dropped and twitched for a second. This is what she got for not setting up landmines.

**CALM BEFORE THE STORM**

Standard Authors Notes, allusions being explained, and clarifications go here.

First thing, some people may be thinking. "Okay Tastychainsaws WTF why did Fawkes just leave?" My reply is this, his leaving in my story made more sense than it did in the game. A more BS explanation is plus Kagami didn't have the good karma needed to recruit him as a follower.

Also them getting kicked out of Vault is slightly cannon. In Fallout 3 if you leave the Vault open for trade you can find various residents across the wasteland. Including Amata getting shot in the head by an Enclave firing squad.

Lyon's comment about the Brotherhood of Steel out west having Vertibirds isn't completely made up. In Fallout 2 there is a quest to steel Vertibird plans from an Enclave base and give it to them, you also get power armor and a gauss rifle out of it and it can be done at a very low level.

Yes I know that there aren't that many elements on the Periodic Table but in 67 years it's safe to assume scientists will find some more.

When it comes to Kagami's reaction to Konata's armor think of episode six when Kagami sees Konata's swimsuit. Oh yeah and when it said that Kagami didn't have any urges for morphine that's because you loose all addictions when you get captured in the game.

Fun fact- that big fluff scene between Minami and Yutaka was added in my editing crusade. I felt like I didn't put enough emphasis on how close the two were, so I added it in the second time around.

No next chapter is the technical end of Fallout 3, which sucks if you don't have Broken Steel because in my opinion it's a weak ending. So it's my job to spruce it up a bit. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this and I promise to give my next chapter everything I can to make sure it's perfect.

Stay tuned for Chapter 20- _Motekke!_ Back.


	21. Motekke! Back

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 20- MOTEKKE! BACK**

Well this is it and I can't help but feel a little sentimental about the whole thing. Falling Stars started off as an idea for a manga I had which quickly fell apart when I realized I can't draw worth a damned, then it turned into a fan fiction which turned out better than I had ever imagined it would.

**DAWN OF BATTLE**

Dry lightning cracked in the distance in the early morning, the sun had barely risen and everyone was awake and tense for the upcoming events of the day.

"So what exactly is Liberty Prime?" Kagami asked Konata, who was dozing in and out of sleep while sitting down. "All I know is that it's some sort of weapon, will it really help as much as everyone says it will?"

Before Konata could reply there was a large screeching sound behind Kagami, it stopped and the ground rumbled.

"Look behind you and see for yourself." Konata said smugly.

Kagami slowly turned around, all she could mutter was, "Metal Gear…" In front of her was a fifty foot tall bipedal robot, the very one used in the battle of Anchorage. It felt unreal looking at something like that and knowing it was going to clear a path for her. Using some leverage system it was raised up from the labs and workstations underneath the courtyard.

"I'm not so worried about dying all of a sudden." Kagami said, feeling relieved that something that could take on several Chimera tanks at a time was about to blast its way through to the Jefferson Memorial.

Konata stood next to her admiring the metal beast before them. "So, if you could have any song in the background playing to get you pumped for this what would it be?" She asked conversationally.

Kagami thought for a second then answered. "_Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band/A Little Help From My Friends _by _The Beatles_. Not so much the Sergeant Pepper part though, in fact get rid that song all together."

"Really?" Konata laughed, "I thought you would say something like, _Who cares, this isn't the time to be joking around blah blah blah_" She said in her best Kagami impersonation.

Misao walked up the two of them with her gauss rifle slung over her shoulder, "I don't know about you two but I'm stoked to kick some Enclave- _Jumping Jesus on a pogo-stick is that Metal Gear!?_"

"No just Liberty Prime." Konata assured her, "Kagami made the same mistake too, so you're not alone."

Akira joined them a few minutes later, she looked particularly unenthusiastic about this whole thing. "Ahem my father Elder Lyons has instructed me to give all three of you gift of becoming Paladins of the Brotherhood of Steel." She said in a monotone voice, "I was also told to offer you each, excluding Shorty McBluehair, a suit of power armor."

"I got this far without it thank you." Kagami said and shooed her off.

"I wanted power armor!" Misao whined, "I don't know how to wear it but I still wanted it. I never get anything!"

"You have a gauss rifle, that things blows people in half regardless if they have power armor or not." Kagami reminded her. "It is kind of odd that the only one out of three of us wearing power armor is the one who should be to small to wear it."

"It's fate's way of compensating." Konata decided.

"That reminds me, Misao has a gauss rifle, I have plasma rifle, what are you going to bring Konata?" Kagami asked.

"I'm glad you asked Kagamin, be right back." Konata trotted off and returned a few minutes later with a metal assault rifle that was bit larger than the FIN-FAL model rifle she had before, and it had a rounded clip. "This is a Chinese assault riffle and I got armor piercing rounds to deal with Enclave so I should be all right."

"I have to admit I'm pretty confident about this, at first I was unsure, but I think we really stand a chance." Kagami remarked sounding sure of herself.

"You sound pretty sure of yourself." Misao said, feeling confident herself as well.

"When you think about it, this is another in a long line of things people said we couldn't do." Kagami said, "Remember Konata how all throughout school they told us that we could never survive out in the wastes?"

"Yeah, sure proved them wrong." Konata replied.

"Then everyone here said you couldn't get into Vault 87, I did it and escaped Raven Rock. The way I see it this shouldn't be any different." Kagami continued.

"Let's hope so." Konata said smiling. "Oh yeah and Kagami?"

"Hmm?" The lilac haired girl replied.

"It's good to have you back, not just in body but in mind too." Konata told her and hugged her. Kagami blushed since there were a lot of people around but allowed it.

**AN UNEXPECTED CONFESSION**

The three of them had been given radios that were around their belts, in unison the three of them went off. "All members of Team Spearhead please report outside the gates of the Citadel." It was Minoru's voice.

"That's us!" Konata said and they jogged over to the meeting place, each feeling a sense of excited anxiety.

"Hey is that armor hard to run in? I know it's missing quite a few pieces but still." Kagami asked as they were heading over.

"A bit." Konata answered. "I'd much rather prefer a sailor suit."

"If I had my little way I'd eat peaches every day." Misao added.

"What the hell is wrong with both of you?" Kagami asked, already getting exhausted from Misao's antics. The three of them had been scolded yesterday by a Sentinel after she stole one of their target dummies. How Misao was allowed to say here was beyond here, none the less be on the Spearhead team.

They met up with a large group of soldiers outside the gates with Akira and Minoru included.

"Unidentified targets closing in!" A Paladin yelled and pointed at two people walking towards them.

"Wait, I know them…" Akira said squinting her eyes to get a good look at them. It was Ayano and Minami.

Ayano started sprinting towards them while Minami kept her steady pace walking. The orange haired girl sprinted past everyone and tackle hugged Misao.

"Misao, I heard you were going down the warpath. Please don't do this you'll be killed." Ayano cried.

Misao jumped in surprise, "I…I can't back out on these people now, we're doing something great here and I'm helping. Now no one can say that I'm selfish.

Ayano looked up at her still crying. "Is this what this is about? Misao, I don't care if you're selfish or can't remember anything about me or love Konata, just come home with me."

"Why would I love Konata?" Misao asked, confused but a little flattered that Ayano cared so much.

"I saw you two kiss, it hurt to watch, but I don't care anymore. Misao don't do this…" She pleaded.

"What?" Kagami said not sounding thrilled about what she just heard.

"Aya-chan, I don't love Konata, what happened was an accident when we were drunk." Misao told her and cradled the distraught girl against her chest. "Is that why you left?"

"Y-yeah." Ayano said with a sniffle.

"What about you two kissing?" Kagami asked again.

"I don't want to talk about it." Konata said, shaking her head.

"Misa-chan don't go, I… _I love you_." Ayano finally said after years of keeping it hidden, now seemed like her last chance.

"You…love me?" Misao whispered, hardly believing that. Ayano grabbed the front of Misao's shirt and pulled her into a kiss.

Several Paladins "awwww"ed at this and Kagami and Konata couldn't help but smile. Minami walked up behind the, she looked extremely pale and tired, and her wrist was bandaged too.

"It's going to make her death even harder on Ayano now." Minami commented.

"What is with you? You just pop randomly to demoralize everyone." Kagami sneered, getting rather sick of Minami.

"I'm the only realistic one here. The three of you aren't soldiers, Kuroi spent the last decade honing her combat abilities. You have been fighting for what, a couple months? Face it she's your superior in every way, this isn't a fairy tail where the good guys win." Minami said, sounding impatient, tired, and more bitter than anything else. "I'm trying to do you two a favor, just run away while you can. The Brotherhood won't care and you know it, just leave the Capital wastes with your family and live happily somewhere far away."

"You don't get it do you." Kagami said nearly growling. "This isn't about me, this is about the entire Capital Wasteland and possibly beyond. Yes, Konata and I might die, sure that's a possibility. But at least we're dying for something that means something, just what the hell have you done with your life that means anything?"

That struck home, Minami's face distorted a bit. "I gave people hope and a home without having to send anyone out as cannon fodder to do so. Also, just who the hell are you to judge me on nobility?"

"I know all about what you did to those people in-" Kagami tried to say, her words were cut off by a swift slap across her cheek from Minami.

"Those are awfully brave words from someone who wasn't there, and it tells me a lot about your personality, using it as a weapon for your little pissing contest." Minami hissed at her. "If you want a pissing contest then I'll give you one. Should I be the one to tell the Lancaster family what happened to their daughter, or were you planning on it? What about Shrapnel? I'm sure he'd love to know just where is best friend went."

Kagami slapped her back, she didn't need Minami bringing what she had to do to get pass Little Lamplight in front of Kagami. That turned out to be a mistake, Minami threw in Kagami on the ground using her leg, and had _Vampire's Edge _out in a second. The sharpened blade was held against Kagami's neck, with the flick of her wrist Minami could end Kagami's life.

The Paladin's all drew their weapons and aimed them at Minami. The kensei removed her katana from Kagami's neck and resheathed it. "You're going to be cannon fodder and nothing less. Kuroi is my better in combat and I could have slain you without a second thought."

"Go to hell." Kagami said stomped off, Konata eagerly followed her. Minami, who was getting uncomfortable from daylight, walked back the way she had came. It was like nothing had ever happened.

"I was right." Konata said to herself.

"Right about what?" Kagami turned to ask her.

"When I was in Vault 112 I thought that once we got started with Project Purity that you would get all gung ho and put all your effort into it." Konata giggled, "You're so easy to read my little tsundere."

"If you say so." Kagami replied and shook her head. _If you know so much then why don't you come out and say what I feel?_

Overhead a crane lifted Liberty Prime and place it near Spearhead. He was activated remotely and shuttered once before his blue eyes electronically lit up.

"Red Chinese forces detected." Liberty Prime spike in a deep booming voice. "Possibility of mission hindrance… **Zero percent!**"

"He still thinks he's in Anchorage, but at least he seems enthusiastic." Kagami noted.

**ON THE DEFENSE…**

In the Jefferson Memorial, the Enclave wasn't completely oblivious to the Brotherhoods doings.

"General, you may want to take a look at this." An officer said and gestured Kuroi over, he showed her the screen of a terminal that showed the topography of the surrounding areas, from across the river a large mass of red was moving slowly towards them.

"What am I looking at?" Kuroi asked.

"Brotherhood soldiers amassing towards our position." He answered, "There's more though, they have something big with them. I mean really big."

Kuroi growled in frustration. "Scramble everyone, get defensive positions set up the highway. Order the attack Vertibirds to take whatever is with them down, also get all our turrets online."

"All turrets offline." The officer replied immediately, "Looks like sabotage."

Nanako pushed him out of his seat to look for herself. "That's impossible, none of our tech specialists are on site and someone would need an IFF transponder not to set them off…" She wracked her brain for answers, "Iwasaki… Get a hold of Talon Company, give them the profile of Minami Iwasaki. Ten thousand caps for her and the rest of her little club. Dead."

"Yes ma'am!" The officer replied.

"One last order, get Captain Ambrose and Johannes and tell them to suit up in Hellfire armor and meet me in the Purifier room. They're going to my personal honor guard."

**DEATH MARCH**

Sadly Ayano failed to convince her love to stay, in the end she thought maybe it was best that Misao did this. She could tell Misao was trying to prove herself and it didn't feel right to take that away from her. Most of her worries were ceased when Kagami gave her outline of their plan and setup, it actually sounded like it could work.

"Please promise me that if you get into any grave danger that you'll run." Ayano said firmly to Misao, "Don't play hero or do anything stupid.'

"You worry too much." Misao replied and kissed her on the forehead. "It's not like I'm going out there alone."

"I know…but still." Ayano said nervously, she untied her red bandanna and tied it around Misao's forehead. "When I was an initiate for the Brotherhood of Steel I never once got shot while wearing it. Maybe it'll bring you luck too."

"See now I have even less to worry about with a bullet proof bandanna." Misao joked. "Does it come with unlimited ammo?"

Ayano was going to say something else when Akira walked up behind her, "Hey, remember me?"

"Sort of, Sentinel Kogami right?" Ayano turned around and replied.

"You remembered!" Akira cheered looking less like a honed warrior and more like a child. Her voice turned dark instantly. "You walked out on us, that's punishable by death."

"No it's not!" Minoru interjected. Akira unleashed her wrath upon him.

Konata and Kagami watched and couldn't help but laugh. Everyone's radio went off at once.

"This is Rothschild, I'm here with Dr. Tamura. We'll be keeping you all informed." Rothschild told them. Liberty Prime stirred again. "Operation Take It Back is a go, I repeat Operation Take It Back is a go!"

Everyone scrambled into six man groups and followed behind Liberty Prime as he lumbered forward step by step. Each footstep shook the ground beneath them.

"This is it, man I'm so _freaking excited_!" Misao screamed nearly exploding with energy.

Kagami had to give her props for her energy, she felt nervous and the atmosphere felt almost surreal. "You sure are hyper."

"That's because I did a whole bunch of Jet before we left!" Misao screamed in reply and jumped up and down.

Their merriment was short lived as someone pointed out three Vertibird helicopters flying towards them from across the river.

Liberty Prime turned to face them, the three aerial craft began pelting him with their guns while hovering in place. Liberty, hardly fazed by the on coming assault, shot forth a cluster of blue lasers that obliterated the three aerial vehicles, sending them tumbling into the river.

"**Communism is a lie!**" He boomed in victory and kept on marching.

"Yeah we won this." Konata said, looking at the wreckage sticking out of the shallow waters of Potomac. They began crossing a large bridge that spanned the river, in the center of it was a large blue force barrier nearly fifty feet high. At its base were several metal barriers set up with Enclave soldiers situated behind them.

Green bolts of fire whipped past Konata and Misao as they jumped out of the way to avoid the plasma weapons being fired at them. Unlike the lightning speed and precision of laser weapons, plasma weapon fire was possible to dodge at long distances, so the Brotherhood was able to press on without suffering hardly any damage.

The retaliation fire from the Brotherhood was nearly deafening, the roar of gun fire drowned out the sounds of Liberty Prime marching on, even with the sea of bullets the Enclave still managed to fire back. There was loud _Crack! _next to Kagami and she watched at one of the barriers was blown back and the men behind it thrown aside, one of them was missing their legs.

She turned and saw Misao reloading her gauss rifle, this made their chances of winning seem even more likely. Liberty Prime kept lumbering on, ignoring any fire directed at him. He stepped in front of barrier and grabbed the two metal spires on other side of it, electricity pulsed through him as the two devices overloaded and blew out, causing the barrier to fade.

Both Kagami and Konata hadn't had a chance to fire their weapons yet, Liberty Prime's lasers incinerated nearly everyone, and the survivors were picked off by their allies with sniper rifles, or Misao's gauss rifle. They crossed the bridge to the east side of the river and began marching south where the Jefferson Memorial was. More Vertibirds flew overhead, but were shot down before they even had a chance to use their guns.

Everyone had hope for Liberty Prime, but his capacity for unstoppable destruction was almost laughably ridiculous, nothing could halter his progress in the slightest. The Memorial began to appear in the distance as they continued down the road smashing through every Enclave blockade without a second thought.

"Did we catch them surprised or something? I see their turrets but they're not shooting at us." Someone said over the radio.

"Who knows? Let's just keep moving before they change their mind." Someone else replied.

"Good thing they're not shooting at us." Konata told Kagami, "I heard they fire like fifteen thousand rounds a minute with bullets made from depleted uranium the size of wine bottles."

"Even it that was half true we'd be screwed." Kagami replied, feeling grateful at how surprisingly well everything was going.

Liberty Prime destroyed the last barrier and the Memorial was now only about fifty meters away. Several Vertibirds took off and were shot down instantly.

"Team Aftershock is moving in now!" A Sentinel from the second team said through the radio.

"Go Go Go!" A Sentinel in their group screamed. Since they weren't told what exactly what to do when they got their besides "take it back" Konata, Kagami, and Misao followed the Sentinel along with Akira and Minoru.

The six of them sprinted through the battlefield, dozens of Enclave soldiers were spread out and trying to take out Liberty Prime with no luck, bullets and laser shots whizzed past them as they ran through to the door that took them inside.

They emerged in the long hallway that Kagami, Tsukasa, and Konata came into a month and a half ago. Konata could even see where she and Tsukasa had been after the turret had riddled her with bullet holes. The six of them slowly eased down the hallway to the intersection. The Sentinel, whose name Konata had never bothered to learn, walked into the intersection and was gunned down by a flurry of lasers and an explosion of fire, killing him nearly instantly.

"How're we going to do this?" Konata asked, knowing that the lobby was heavily defended and Liberty Prime couldn't help them there.

"Take it slowly, Kusakabe you try and take out the one with the heavy incinerator first. The rest of us will give you cover." Minoru suggested.

"Got it chief." Misao replied with a sloppy salute. Without any regard for her safety, she stepped into the center and fired into the lobby. She jumped back narrowly avoiding a hail of plasma fire. "Two for one!" She cried and reloaded her weapon.

"Okay now we patiently wait for-" Minoru began to say before being interrupted by several loud thunderous cracks.

Misao walked back towards the rest of them. "Killed the rest of them." She said nonchalantly.

"Where can I get one of those?" Konata and Kagami asked in unison.

"I dunno." Misao shrugged and they moved into the lobby, it was pretty much the same as it had been besides a few Enclave terminals set up.

"Hey a little help over here?" Akira said in her cute voice, she was positioned against the corner of the doorway with her sniper rifle. "They followed us."

"Alright, umm…" Kagami said thinking out loud. "Okay Shiraishi and I will stay here and keep them from sneaking up from behind, the rest of you go and clear out the purifier."

"Alright that works." Minoru agreed, Akira rejoined Misao and Konata.

"You sure about this?" Konata asked, sounding unsure.

"Yeah we'll rejoin you once we know it's safe." Kagami assured her. "Oh yeah and one more thing…" She searched through her pockets and retrieved a metal vial. "Insert this into the somethingorother slot, it shouldn't be hard to find. It's just a finishing touch."

"Yeah I'll do that." Konata replied, and unknowingly took the FEV. "Just be careful okay."

"Don't worry I don't think many of them will get past Liberty Prime." Kagami said and patted her on the shoulder.

Konata regrouped with the others and stood in front of a narrow metal door. "Well what are we waiting for?" Misao asked and walked in.

"Misao, no!" Konata yelled, Misao turned around after walking in to see what Konata was yelling about. There was a loud gunshot and Misao's midsection blew outwards from the bullet she had taken in the back. Various internal organs were now exposed to the world and several strands of torn intestines hung grotesquely forward.

The amber eyed girl looked down at her stomach in surprise, she could hear a gattling laser revving up to the right of her. She turned just in time to see an Enclave soldier in his Hellfire armor begin blasting away at her. Misao's limp body flew against the wall and crumpled over, Konata could see her covered in burns.

"_Misao!_" Konata screamed and ran in, she tapped the VATS button on her Pip-Boy and watched the world slow down. With perfect precision she unloaded half her clip into the Enclave monster who had gunned down Misao, the armor piercing rounds obliterated their head, she turned as fast as VATS would allow her and shot down another Enclave soldier before he could fire his plasma rifle.

A bit of the concrete of the wall behind her exploded from a bullet. Kuroi was halfway behind a pillar with her gun trained at Konata.

"Drop it." Akira commanded, stepping next to Konata with her sniper rifle aimed at Kuroi.

Nanako reluctantly stepped into plain view and dropped her gun. Konata realized what Akira was about to do and pushed her guns barrel upwards as she was firing at Kuroi's head, the bullet went wild and hit the ceiling.

"What gives?" Akira asked, irritated that her kill was stolen.

Konata ignored her and aimed her assault rifle at Kuroi. "You know I really should just smear you across the floor with this thing…" She said, her voice as cold as frost.

"Then do it." Kuroi spat, she couldn't believe that all their defenses had been blown through and these two nothings had bested her Honor Guard. Everyone had to die sometime she supposed, or at least look for a way out. However, a way out was handed to her.

"No, I'm not like you. I don't have to kill everyone and everything to get my way, we won and that's it. Leave." Konata ordered.

Kuroi nervously walked between the two of them and out the door wondering what had just happened.

"You're just going to let her go?" Akira asked, disgusted at Konata's mercy.

"No, I just know Kagami wanted to be the one who killed her." Konata replied and went to check on Misao.

She was in bad condition, she had taken an explosive round the gut and it had shredded her intestines leaving a gory mess. Beyond that she was checkered with severe burns.

"Ow, ow, ow…" Misao whimpered, "Make it stop hurting Chibikko, _please_…"

"Don't worry Misao, we'll get help." Konata said and grasped her hand, truthfully she didn't think the amber-eyed girl was going to last much longer.

Misao said nothing and gave a disconnected smile, she felt pain but it was verbose and brief, almost subconscious. A wave of memories came flooding through her, all of a sudden she could remember back. Back further than she could have ever hoped.

**THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MISAO**

_Now I remember, it was Pittsburgh, that's where I was born_. Misao remembered, she could see her mother and fathers faces. She struggled to remember how she ended up in the Capital Wasteland. Then it came to her, she had been a slave in Pittsburgh. Brief images of her parents worrying and crying over something, she struggled to remember what it was.

"_Face it Tsumugi she's going to die if she doesn't get out of this place!" Her father argued, Misao was around ten at the time and was in bed. She could hear her parents arguing in the other room._

"_How do you think we're supposed to that, the guards don't care if she has the disease. Those bastards were the ones who made her work in the scrap yard and they knew it would happen." Her mother replied in despair, Misao had begun to cry. She knew something was wrong with her, she had started coughing up blood and weird black spots were starting to appear on her skin. Beyond that her left canine had begun to sharpen._

"_I have an idea, I enter myself in the arena. If I win then I'll ask for Misao's freedom. It may not be too late for her." Her father said after a minute of silence._

"_No, you can't risk yourself like that!" Her mother screamed back._

"_I would gladly die if it meant my only daughter was saved from a fate worst than death. Come on Tsumugi what other options do we have? There's no cure for the troglodyte disease." He argued._

That was it, her father had fought in the arena and managed to kill every opponent but died soon after from his wounds and radiation sickness. That was still enough to buy Misao's freedom out of the Pitt, in another month she would have fully succumbed to the Troglodyte disease and become one of them.

She remembered hitching a ride with a caravan to the Capital Wastes and moving around with no money usually begging, stealing, or scavenging. Then she got enough money from that to buy a 10mm SMG, at age fourteen she joined a group of mercenaries hired by Alistair Tenpenny to clear out Fort Constantine. What happened after that though? Then it came back to her.

_Misao felt her self being dragged towards the edge of an overpass overlooking Mirelurk infested waters._

"_Come on man she's just a kid, this is going to far." Someone she couldn't see protested._

"_Still I want her share of the money, and I don't need her coming back later for it." The man dragging her replied. "But if you feel that way…" She heard a plasma pistol shoot several times and her stomach ignite in burning pain worse than anything she had ever felt._

"_Leave her for dead, maybe a passing caravan will pick her up." The man said again and dropped her. Misao laid there for what felt like days in burning agony unable to move. It was midway through the next day when she was drifting in and out of consciousness when rescue came._

"… _Yes I know we need money but I'm not doing any mercenary work." A female voice said adamantly._

"_Oh come one don't be like that." A male voice said, "Just swallow your pride just this once and make us a couple thousand caps."_

"_We don't even need money like that Sojiro!" The girl replied again. "I gave that money to my sister for a reason, money and power corrupt. I don't want any part of either."_

"_Kanata you never cease to amaze me." The man, apparently named Sojiro, said hopelessly._

"_I'll take that as a compliment I guess…Hey there's somebody over there!" Kanata shouted and sprinted to Misao's aid. Misao saw a tiny petite girl with long flowing blue hair looking down at her, it looked like an angel._

_She felt several pinpricks in her abdomen, "I think these stimpaks will do, now just have to bandage her…"_

"_Did you really have to waste stimpaks on someone random wounded person. I don't know how things were in California but out here there's more sick and wounded people than you could possibly help." Sojiro said from just out of Misao's view._

"_Yes I do, how could you even say that!?" Kanata replied angrily, "Hmm, do you have a weapon miss?"_

"_N-No…" Misao managed to say._

"_Take this, use it, sell it, I don't care, but it should help you." Kanata said and put a large rifle into Misao's hands. "I just don't want it anymore."_

**FIRST STAR FALLS**

Misao smiled as she remembered everything, for some reason it felt uplifting and free. She wasn't horribly disappointed by her predicament, still it was sad knowing that she would never see Ayano again. Sitting over her was an angel with blue hair.

Konata watched in confusion and Misao handed her the gauss rifle.

"I never did get a chance to thank you, maybe helping you know was my way of payback. Still you can have the rifle back." Misao said, slurring nearly every word.

"Don't talk Misao, save your strength." Konata said and cradled her wounded friends face against her chest. "Just hang in there, we'll get help soon."

But her words went unheard. Misao Kusakabe had died.

**FINAL BOSS**

In the other room Kagami watched with sadistic amusement as the Enclave soldier in front of her melted into a green goo from her plasma rifle.

Beside her Minoru shouted and clutched his side where he had just been shot. Kagami looked around for the attacker, she was confused since they had cleared out the last of the reinforcements sent after them.

Standing at the door that lead to the Purifier room was the demon Nanako Kuroi. Kagami wasted no time and began firing at her with her plasma rifle at Kuroi. To Kagami's horror Kuroi managed to dodge every single shot taken at her, the plasma rifle didn't fire as fast as a laser rifle but still that was a near impossible feat.

Kagami tried to reload another microfusion cell into her rifle but had it shot out of her hand. It fell to the ground and a green substance began oozing out and dissolving the ground beneath. Now Kagami was afraid, she was unarmed against Kuroi. She tried to turn terror into rage but it was difficult, after what Kuroi did to her at Raven Rock, she just wanted to run and hide.

"That was from the guns I kept as a last resort." Kuroi said and tossed two small .32 pistols aside. "Only one bullet for one purpose, good to see it found a better use."

"Neither of us are leaving until the other is dead." Kagami snarled and unsheathed her knife from her boot.

"There are more glorious ways to commit suicide." Kuroi said and raised her fists up, "Hmm a knife versus my bare hands. Still not a fair fight for you, I'm sure I could find something creative to do to with that knife though."

"Don't be so confident, you haven't been in a fair fight in so long you've probably forgotten what it's like to not have an advantage." Kagami said. sounding sure of herself.

"Whatever you say Lilac Crotch." Kuroi replied with a smirk and lunged forward.

Kagami jabbed the knife forward towards the oncoming Kuroi, with almost inhuman speed her attack was blocked. Kuroi kicked the back of her knees causing her to lose her balance and stumble back. Still she had the knife.

Before she could lunge with the knife Kuroi kicked her sharply in the side of her head causing Kagami to stumble back even more. In a desperate attempt Kagami threw the knife, since she had never thrown knives before, the hilt bounced harmlessly off of Kuroi.

She stood up and charged at Kuroi ready to use her palm to drop her like she had done with that Super Mutant in Murder Pass. Her palm shot forward and was met by Kuroi's own palm, she felt a weird tingling sensation spike up her arm leaving it slightly numb.

"So you know that move as well, commendable." Nanako mocked and flicked her arm, trying to shrug off the tingling sensation. "Tell me Lilac, have you even engaged another human in hand to hand combat, or have you just stuck with dummies? You haven't have you? Well, let me tell you that it's a lot different in person."

Kuroi came at her again with a flurry of blows, Kagami struggled to fight off the oncoming blows. Kuroi's fists smashed into her chest repeatedly, Kuroi's hand went around Kagami's throat and she slammed her down into to cold concrete floor.

Kagami looked up to see Kuroi bouncing back and forth victoriously. "Come on you didn't even put up a fight."

Kuroi turned away and stretched, Kagami managed to get to her feet. She realized she couldn't win against Kuroi in a one on one fight, like Minami said she was just too skilled. It was probably impossible to get back outside or to the purifier room for aid. The only way out was back into the depths of station where she had restarted the generator, Kagami decided she would head down there and decide what to do next after that.

She scurried away as fast as she could muster. Kuroi was on her in an instant just as she was coming up to some stairs leading down deeper. She kicked Kagami causing her to tumble down the concrete stairs and fall into a wall. Kuroi stepped down after her and picked her up and threw her down the last of the stairs to the lower level.

In a burst of energy Kagami managed to get back to her feet, she ran down narrow halls and rooms, trying desperately to get away. Behind her were the omnipresent footsteps from Kuroi's black boots calmly following her, it was eerily reminiscent of the Dunwich Building.

Kagami finally found herself at a dead end, a room with several active fission generators and two rectangular pools of water that led to the filtration and purification. Kuroi ran behind her, breathing heavily.

"Stop running…good people don't run…" She said out of breath, "…Now just stop moving and die like an adult."

Kagami made a blind dash, attempting to run past her, Kuroi grabbed her effortlessly by the fabric at the back of her neck causing her to come to dead stop.

Kuroi threw her against the wall and punched her three times in the stomach, holding nothing back. "You and your friends caused a lot of damage today, nothing that can't be repaired though. Do you know how many desperate attempts the locals have made to overthrow us?"

"A tribal killed your last president." Kagami managed to say, despite having the wind blown out of her from Kuroi's punches. Blood trickled from her lips as she spoke.

Kuroi's confident face distorted, Kagami felt Kuroi's fist connect with her nose, causing it to break in a flower of blood. Kagami tried to squirm away while coughing from the pain and lack of breath, Kuroi rewarded her with rough head butt causing her to fall to the ground.

The General (Or Colonel, Kagami still wasn't sure which) pressed her black boot down on Kagami's throat, cutting off most of her oxygen. "I told you there are more glorious methods of suicide, in fact I'm not even going to grant you the peace of a quick and painless death." She dug through one of her pockets and produced a Ripper knife and flicked a switch on it causing its whirling teeth to spin to life. "Yes, this is going to hurt a lot." She assured Kagami.

Kagami struggled to crawl away, the only way out was a corner near one of the pools of water. Getting her throat sawed out didn't seem like a very pleasant way to go out. Kuroi pulled her to her knees by her hair, there was an explosion of tearing pain in her shoulder followed by the most grisly sound she had ever heard.

She screamed as the spinning blades tore through her shoulder accompanied by the sound of her collar bone being sawed through. After only a few seconds of the most horrible pain she had ever felt, it stopped. Kuroi let her go for some reason.

"Stupid thing jammed!" Nanako complained and used her thumb to pry a piece of bone that had jammed the blades, Kagami felt a grim sense of satisfaction that had just managed to surface through the pain. The satisfaction was caused by the fact that Kuroi had never bothered to turn the thing off, as the bone was pried out the blades sparked back to life. She screamed as the blades sawed through half her thumb.

Kagami took the opportunity to scamper away as Kuroi was clutching her bleeding hand while swearing loudly. She made it to the corner, there was already a dead Super Mutant that no one had bother to remove just sitting there rotting. The smell was awful but she ignored it and tried to think of something that would help her since the situation was looking pretty grim. The Super Mutant had a hunting rifle but it was broken nearly in half leaving it useless.

She went through her pockets trying to find anything, all she could find was the rusty pistol Konata had given her. It was useless since she didn't know what kind of ammo it took. Kagami studied it for a moment and realized it wasn't a pistol, it was a stripped down rifle. She crawled over the dead Mutant and grabbed his broken rifle, luckily it still had a full clip in it.

At that moment she decided that she was completely and utterly 100% percent in love with Konata when the clip slid effortlessly into the pistol she had given her. Her hand twitched, and the pain wracking most of her body from Kuroi's seemed distant. She stood up and cocked the gun. Kuroi looked at her and raised the Ripper for another assault.

_Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!_

Kuroi stumbled back looking completely dumfounded and confused. Flowers of exquisite red bloomed in five different places across her body, one shot had blasted her left eye away taking a chuck of head with it. She fell backwards with the same look of confusion plastered on her face.

Kagami kept pulling the trigger over and over again even through the clip was empty. She threw the gun at Kuroi's body, feeling accomplished. The gun, the very same one that had killed the Enclave's last president, bounced off her head and skidded across the concrete.

That was it, they had won. The Jefferson Memorial was secured, Kuroi was dead, Liberty Prime would mop up the rest of the forces and Kagami could go home to her family and start a new life with them and Konata. Despite the flaring pain in her shoulder and nose she smiled. She looked at the water in those two pools feeling proud that pretty soon they would be drinkable, even though they were salt water, but we wouldn't tell her that since that would break her heart. Good people don't do that.

Behind her, Kagami heard something stir, she turned around and saw something she couldn't believe. Kuroi was actually standing up an smiling, Kagami was filled with horror when she looked at her. Most of her face was gone or red from blood, almost all of her coat was red with blood too. She quite literally looked like a zombie. The skin around her eye had been blown away and hung over her jaw in horrible fleshy tatters, Kagami could see all her teeth through that whole in her face.

Kuroi stumbled at her, muttering something Kagami couldn't hear, it almost seemed funny…Until Kagami saw she was holding a live grenade and was only a few feet away from her. Kuroi shuffled towards her and was laughing maniacally. "_See you in hell!_"

The plasma grenade detonated and Kagami dived into the water, the plasma fire burned most of her back, but she managed to dive under as the fission generators exploded.

**UNINTENTIONAL SABOTAGE**

Konata felt the ground beneath her shake, something near the purifier detonated cracking the glass.

"And just what was that?" Akira asked in her cute voice.

"I don't know, maybe Liberty Prime hit something he shouldn't have." Konata suggested, not really thinking about it, she was still trying to compose herself after Misao's death. The amber eyed girl laid there lifeless with her eyes closed looking at peace.

Her radio crackled, telling them what the explosion was about. "Spearhead, there was an explosion in the lower levels." It was Hiyori's voice, "The damage was extensive, you're going to need to start the purifier now or we'll lose it forever. I'm unlocking the door from here."

Konata jumped to her feet and ran up the several steps that lead to the Purifier chamber, she remembered what Kagami said and placed the metal vial in the chemical input slot. She stepped through the doorway into the spot where her father had died, it felt surreal.

Her Geiger counter exploded with clicks signifying she was taking in about fifty Rads per second, she had to be quick about it. Konata stepped up to the main console, it was locked by some three digit numerical code. She had no idea what her father would put as a code, she had to think fast though or all would be lost.

Suddenly a vivid memory flashed in her mind…_"It was your mothers favorite Bible passage, Revelation 2:16. I am Alpha and Omega…"_

Konata tapped in 216, the console beeped in confirmation, she smiled and thanked her Dad, and hoped him and her mother were watching. She hit the activation command and the ground beneath her shook. Konata tried to walk out but realized she couldn't stand anymore, she felt pangs of fear form knowing that she had taken in too much radiation.

**LIKE A ROLLER COASTER…BUT DIFFERENT**

Kagami surfaced, wincing at the salt water burning her open wounds. she waded to the end of edge of the water and laid against it, not minding its minor radiation. The pool was pretty deep and filtered out into the ocean. From where she was she could see charred bones and cloth on top of a patch of charred concrete, this time Kuroi was staying dead. Kagami would never forget that horrible image of the skin that should have been on Kuroi's face hanging down beneath her chin as she shambled at Kagami. Or the grim look of satisfaction as she stole Kagami's purity.

Machinery around her began to stir as she was climbing out and something shook the entire Jefferson Memorial knocking her back into the water. Machinery hummed to life and she felt herself being pulled underwater. She felt her body dragged down like a rag doll, she smashed into something concrete before being pulled through the dark. Kagami felt herself smashed into several walls each time cracking more and more bones.

The wild underwater roller coaster of pain finally ended as she was blasted into the open ocean.

**FADING STARS**

Konata felt herself being dragged out of the Purifier chamber, she looked up and through her blurry vision saw Akira dragging her out.

She managed to get onto her hands and knees, she had critical radiation poisoning, but wasn't too upset. The Purifier had been activated, mission accomplished.

Her happiness was short lived as another explosion rocked the Jefferson Memorial, the remaining glass exploded sending jagged shards in every direction. Konata felt several sharp pains erupt across her body, near the door Misao had been impaled against the wall by several pieces of glass. So much for resting but in peace.

Reluctantly Konata looked down at her body to access the damage, there was a large pool of her own blood beneath her. A massive three foot triangular shard of glass had impaled her straight through the chest.

Konata's chest hitched and she found herself unable to breath, she collapsed over and passed out.

Outside the Jefferson Memorial, the Brotherhood were rounding up prisoners and cheering as water began pouring out through the pumps around the Jefferson Memorial.

Several hundred feet south down the coast, Kagami had finally washed up on the rocky shore. Every part of her body hurt and she struggled to keep conscious since it was hard to breath.

"Hey, you somehow managed to hurt yourself really bad. I'm talking really, really bad." Kagami's own voice from her Pip-Boy said, she had recorded that message years ago, and it was set to go off if her vitals were nearly flat lined. "I'm supposed to ask you for a voice command asking yes or no if you want to hear your injury report. It's just going to play since you'll want to hear it anyways, I mean I'll want to hear it since I'm you. This is confusing…shut up Konata no I'm not going to do that again! Anyways, yeah I hope I don't have to hear this anytime soon." Her voice was replaced with a electronic female one, which began reading off what was wrong with her.

"_Critical radiation poisoning detected, fourteen major fractures detected, thirty-six minor fractures detected, skull cracked, internal bleeding detected in four places, right lung punctured, left lung punctured…"_

Kagami didn't feel so hopeful about her survival outcome, tears ran down her face and she hated herself for not telling Konata how she felt and passing up that chance they had the night of the Deathclaw attack.

"…_Major blood loss detected, third degree burns covering twenty seven percent of body, left arm dislocated…"_

She struggled to move any part of her body, nothing would respond. She felt like she was covered in needles and every bone had been grinded into powder. Kagami prayed for a miracle so she could go see her family again, or for her mom to show and kiss everything better.

"_User death imminent." _

**CONCLUSION**

And so it was that Konata Izumi ventured forth from Vault 101 intent on discovering the fate of a father who had once sacrificed the future of humanity for that of his own child.

The Capital Wasteland proved a cruel inhospitable place, but Konata refused to surrender to the vices that had claimed so many others. The values passed on from father to child – selflessness, compassion, honor – guided this noble soul through countless trials and triumphs.

But it was not until the end of this long road that Konata learned the true meaning of that greatest of virtues – sacrifice. Stepping into the irradiated control chamber of Project Purity, the child followed the example of the father sacrificing life itself for the greater good of mankind.

Sadly, when selected by the sinister president to be his instrument of annihilation, Kagami Hiiragi agreed. Humanity will be preserved, but only in its purest form. The waters of life flowed at last, but the virus contained within soon eradicated all those deemed unworthy of salvation. The Capital Wasteland, despite its progress, became a graveyard.

So ends the story of the three girls, who stepped through the great door of Vault 101 and into the annals of legend. But the tale of humanity will never come to a close, for the struggle of survival is a war without end, and war – _war never changes. _


	22. Prequel to the Sequel

Falling Stars Chapter 21, Prequel To The Sequel

Ceasing authors notes. Too much risk of spoiling anything, treading lightly on further chapters. Much room for error, do not want to risk it. Not going to tell story talking like this. Chapters probably going to much longer than normal.

**FORTY FIVE MINUTES AFTER OPERATION TAKE IT BACK… **

Looking back Kagami realized that she had ended up with a pretty shitty life, Vault life was a endless sea of melancholy and loneliness. Wasteland life was death, deceit, and love between everyone but her it seemed.

She spent her school years studying and working as hard as she could in hopes of a better life, in turn she was rewarded with a job that required hard work and spending long nights alone. Kagami had envied Tsukasa more than she would ever admit, Tsukasa was content and naïve with a happy job. Her job was simple and cheerful, make food for people and get praised for how great it was.

Her home life was far from great, she spent the day sleeping or being bitched at by someone who had managed to break something and decided to blame it on her. Kagami's parents were supporting enough about her career, her older sisters looked down on her with an air of arrogance and apathy. Inori was pleasant when she wanted to be but mostly just ignored her. Matsuri on the other hand seemed to be the opposite, the only time she ever talked to Kagami was to chew her out about things she did that didn't live up to her standards.

Kagami spent her career fixing things other people broke out of sheer negligence, her only companion had been a small cassette player she had gotten for her seventh birthday. With it she passed the lonely nights singing along to The Beatles wishing for something better. This turned her into a bitter person, The Beatles sang about how much love made life better. Too bad there was no love for her, she openly despised every guy in the Vault that was her age. They were either completely uninterested in her or part of that completely ridiculous gang, she regretted not killing them all when she was last in Vault 101.

On the subject of love, Konata had openly flirted and made suggestive hints at her for as long as she could remember but Kagami usually ignored them. It wasn't until she was in her underwear sleeping at the Washington Monument thinking, _I just want somebody to love _when she realized _Why not Konata? _Sure her and Konata generally suffered from a conflict of interests and the blunette clearly was infatuated with her. If she just wanted somebody to love then what was wrong with her best friend? There was the initial "She's a girl though!" but that quickly passed when Kagami thought it over more, she realized that she wasn't physically attracted to Konata in a sexual way. She wasn't attracted to _anyone _in a sexual way for that matter.

After she met Konata again after what happened in Raven Rock she wanted so much to tell Konata the way she felt, but the words she said and the way she hurt her had left an impact. Konata said she was over it but that spark of infatuation was gone from her eyes and Kagami knew it and it was her fault.

The wastes were definitely an interesting turn of events, Kagami had to say it wasn't exactly welcomed. At first her main emotion was anxiety and worrying that she wouldn't be able to go home. That was replaced by an omnipresent fear after the Super Duper Mart and getting shot several times. Kagami thought she was cursed, although clearly the most skilled out of the three of them she had taken the most physical abuse by far. Konata had been hurt twice if Kagami remembered right, once was by her. She on the other hand had lost count of how many times she had seen her own blood.

Considering everything that had happened to her, the _"User death imminent" _message was probably the most reassuring thing she had ever heard. Sweet oblivion.

**TWELVE MINUTES AFTER OPERATION TAKE IT BACK…**

Konata didn't have the luxury of thinking over the events of her life, she had blacked out after seeing the glass that had impaled her.

Minoru and several Paladins stepped into the purifier room after hearing on the radio that they had lost contact with them. Paladin Honduras, who remembered Konata only briefly was the first to walk in, the floor was completely covered in glass. To his immediate left was a complete wreck of human remains, a girl who had entire abdomen burned away had her upper half crucified against the wall by glass, a shard of glass had cut her in half at the waist. A sizable chuck had gone straight through her head too.

Sentinel Akira was lying sprawled out next to Konata, the plate glass had stabbed her dozens of places. There was a thick trail of blood behind her signaling she had made it pretty far before passing out.

Honduras had to turn his head after seeing Konata, she was being held up on her hands and knees by a large shard of glass like a samurai who had died on their sword. Blood was dripping from her pale lips, her eyes were open unseeingly staring at the ground.

Minoru ran past him and propped Akira upright and placed his hand on her neck then palm. "She's alive, call a medic though. Check on Izumi first actually."

Honduras complied, he didn't know how to go about doing this though. He reluctantly pried Konata's body off the glass, there was horrible screeching noise from the glass scraping against her hand-me-down power armor. He set her down as gently as he could on a patch of floor that was relatively free of glass. After checking her wrists and neck Honduras couldn't find a pulse, she wasn't breathing either.

**TWO HOURS AFTER OPERATION TAKE IT BACK…**

"We should turn around, there's no one out this far." The young woman in charge of hunting down her wounded comrades said to her partner.

"Just a bit further, there's a tidal pool ahead." Her partner replied, unlike her he had power armor and a laser rifle. She was outfitted in her normal Enclave officer garments and had a plasma pistol. Sadly the battle had gone catastrophically but at least the Brotherhood was allowing them to collect their wounded who had fled the scene. So far all they had found was a Mirelurk.

"Hold on, there's someone near those rocks!" She said and pointed out a crumpled body lying on an outcropping of rocks, "Not one of ours I think."

The two of them went to get a closer look, it was girl wearing a tattered indigo outfit that was covering much anymore. On her wrist was small computer that had its screen caved in, the girl herself had lilac hair that was matted and sopping wet. Almost every part of her was doused a red-orange from blood mixed with water, her left arm was dislocated and part of bone was showing near the shoulder. At her right foot a bloatfly was contently munching away.

"Shoo, shoo!" Her partner called and chased the foot long bug away, it reluctantly flew off to find more people to munch on. He kneeled down and gave her a quick glace, "Another dead one, lets move on."

Something in Major Atkinson's brain told her that this wasn't just a random waster's corpse. After a few seconds of thinking it popped into her mind, "No, Eden wanted us to capture a girl with lilac hair and a computer on her arm. This is her."

"It don't know if you've noticed but she's kind of sort of dead." Her partner said annoyed by the distraction.

"Still, I'll radio in HQ and see what they can make of this. She doesn't even look like she's that far gone, a couple stimpaks and a bit of electricity will get her going again." Atkinson said firmly and reached down to her radio to call in for advice. Personally she hoped they would say just leave her, taking this random wastelander seemed like it wasn't worth the effort. Not to mention there was the whole "she's dead" part of it, although Atkinson had seen her fair share of people brought back from the other side through modern medicine it still creeped her the fuck out. It was modern necromancy.

**THREE DAYS AFTER OPERATION TAKE IT BACK…**

The Enclave had been cleared out of the Jefferson Memorial everyone was allowed to take a breath of fresh air. Just outside four girls sat at the edge of the water letting the surf touch their toes without irradiating them.

"It freaking blows my mind that the entire Izumi family died here." Hiyori commented. "And each one of them died from such a stupid cause. Cardiac arrest, irradiation, gutted by broken glass. I mean _come on_."

"I heard that onee-chan isn't dead, she's just in a coma or something." Yutaka said defensively, she knew that Konata was still alive and everyone had it wrong about her dead. Besides if Konata was dead then why did they have a whole bunch of medics working on her as they took her back to the Citadel? It was sound logic in their opinion.

"I was there, her and Kusakabe died." Hiyori argued. "This isn't up for debate." Yutaka sighed and said nothing.

"Speaking of Kusakabe, did you hear her one employee Ayano committed suicide." Patricia said adding to conversation. "Burned the saloon down with herself in it, I guess she and Misao were pretty close."

"More than you'd believe." Minami replied, she sighed and shook her head. "I warned them too, I said they would all die and I was right. Their deaths weren't necessary, and they could have been alive with everything the same if they had stayed behind."

"Izumi started the purifier, only she knew the code." Hiyori reminded her.

"True." Minami said not bothering to go into it.

Out of nowhere Patty burst into tears, "I just can't get that image out of my mind…I helped them do some of the clean up and no one bothered to take Kusakabe down, she was just pressed up against the wall with all that glass and blood…and she was smiling!" Hiyori let her cry on her shoulder. Patty's tears were infectious, now Yutaka was crying.

"Yu-chan." Minami said and cradled her, "Don't cry, this is a new beginning for all of us. We don't have to worry about clean water anymore."

"Don't count on it." Hiyori said in an extremely pessimistic tone, "We found out why the thing exploded in the first place, some idiot detonated a plasma grenade down by the reactors and blew them all up. The purifiers running on it's own right now but we think in a week or so it'll die off, we hired two people to try and fix it up. One of them was the one who got it working in the first place. I think she was a private contractor for the Enclave."

Minami knew who she was talking about but kept silent, "Yutaka, don't worry about your cousin. They wouldn't have made all that effort to get medical attention to her if she was dead."

"But…but everyone says she died." Yutaka sniffled.

"They're saying that because they don't know any better, the Paladin who found her also though Akira was dead too. Don't trust what you can't see with your own eyes." Minami said trying to make her feel better.

"Wait a second…" Hiyori blurted out. "How do you burn down a saloon made out of scrap metal from airplanes?"

"With a lot of gasoline and booze." Patty replied grimly. "You said that the person coming into fix the place up used to be with Enclave? I hope we can trust her."

**ONE DAY AFTER OPRATION TAKE IT BACK…**

"This is great!" Tsukasa cheered after receiving the news that the Brotherhood wanted to hire her to fix up the Purifier, she didn't have much mechanical knowledge but she could at least point those who did in the right direction.

"I'm glad to see you in such high spirits." Miyuki said earnestly. Yesterday the two of them had learned that Konata had been gutted with broken glass and her condition was unknown and Kagami had just disappeared. There wasn't any sign of her, it was a fifty-fifty chance she had been killed or captured.

"I just hope my leg doesn't get in the way, I'm going to need people to help me get around." Tsukasa sighed, her injury had taken a toll on her daily life. Moving around was a pain since she couldn't stand on it unassisted.

"Hmm I can see your concern." Miyuki agreed, "Perhaps I could assist you there as well. Honestly I'm feeling rather left out in this whole thing, everyone has found their niche outside the Vault but me so far." The three girls had left on a daring quest that Miyuki wished more than anything she could have taken part in. Matsuri had left them on their way to Tenpenny tower to join a raider gang or something, Inori had agreed to help a woman in a town called Megaton to research and write a book. Tsukasa's parents kept themselves busy by helping out the various shops in Tenpenny tower, they didn't really need to since Kagami had left a substantial amount of money behind. Miyuki's mother had gone with the rest of the people from Vault to the only place that would take them all in, a settlement in the far northeast called The Republic of Dave.

"You'd do that for me? Thanks Yuki-chan!" Tsukasa cheered and hopped out of her seat to hug her, Miyuki caught her and managed to hold her up. They were on the balcony outside Kagami's suite at Tenpenny tower enjoying the endless rolling hills of dirt and remains of the old world.

"It'd be my pleasure." Miyuki assured her and placed the smaller girl back in her seat. "Where is the Jefferson Memorial anyways? Is it far?"

"Not too far, the Brotherhood of Steel is sending us an escort since it's dangerous to go there on our own." Tsukasa replied.

"Dangerous?" Miyuki gasped, "How so?"

Tsukasa put a finger on her chin and tried to remember all the dangers. "Hmm, let's see…There's raiders who will try to kill or sell us as slaves."

"Goodness!" The pink haired girl said trying not to imagine the possibilities.

"Oh yeah, then there's Super Mutants. They're really big green guys who will try to eat or capture you, Kagami was really good at killing them. If we went down the coast then giant crab monsters would try and eat us." Tsukasa said feeling that there were more dangers but she couldn't remember them.

"I didn't realize things were so dangerous outside the Vault, maybe my mother was right about her isolationist ideas." Miyuki said all of a sudden very afraid to go outside.

**FIVE DAYS AFTER OPERATION TAKE IT BACK…**

Kagami briefly remembered a fight between her and Kuroi, some intense pain and lying on the shore but that seemed so far away and vague it didn't matter. Beyond that she remembered something about a place called Raven Rock and Vault 87, it wasn't important. What was important was that she was happy and safe in this new place, she opened her eyes and looked upwards. Far above it looked like the surface of the ocean, except she was looking up from beneath it. Beneath her was cool sand, judging by her surroundings it looked like she was underwater, except without the water. This new place had the strangest feeling, it was like she was underwater with bubbles and everything but she moved and breathed like it was open air. It was not entirely unwelcome.

"Good to see you're awake." Someone from behind her said, she turned around and saw Konata there. What logic was left in her mind tried to make sense of all of this.

"Am I in heaven?" Was the first thing Kagami asked.

"Heaven? No, this is an octopus's garden." Konata replied matter-o-factly. Kagami supposed that made sense, how else could she explain her surroundings? Then she thought of something that didn't add up.

"Wait, where's the octopus?" She asked accusingly, if this was truly an octopus's garden then where was the octopus?

"Silly Kagamin, you know that octopus's live in cave. He doesn't spend all day in his garden." Konata replied and shook her head. Despite how odd this situation was Kagami felt strangely at east. Konata looked pleasant and was smiling, although she was a tad bit pale and had a gaping hole in her chest that was piercing through the stripped down power armor she was wearing.

"Can we stay here forever?" Kagami asked eagerly, for some reason she wanted nothing more than to stay here forever.

"Of course my dear." Konata replied with a smile, Kagami walked over to embrace her and feel all her fears melt away. As soon as their hands touched everything vanished.

**ABOUT TWELVE SECONDS LATER…**

Kagami looked up staring at the dark, _Of course it was a dream, nothing like that place exists…wait where the hell am I?_

The last thing she remembered was laying on the rocky shore beaten and bloody and now she was in a small bed in the dark. She heard voices far off, and after a couple seconds the lights turned on revealing a small hospital room with dark gray walls with all sorts of medical equipment. A man in a tight white spandex jumpsuit with black gloves and boots walked in through and electronic door, Kagami thought he looked liked the doctors that she had passed in Raven Rock. _Wait a second_.

"Kagami Hiiragi, I'm Dr. Mason." He introduced, he was pale with short black hair. Kagami placed him in his early twenties. "You're probably confused about everything but don't worry I'll do my best to explain."

"Is this Raven Rock?" Kagami asked, after killing Kuroi that was the last place she wanted to be at.

"Close but no, Raven Rock has been abandoned under the orders of General Estoc. But yes we're Enclave and this is an Enclave facility." Mason smiled and replied.

Kagami sat up instantly and tried to squirm away, the IV needles in her arms were making it difficult to move. "I'm leaving, the only way to stop me is to kill me. I don't want anything to do with you demons."

"You must be referring to Kuroi's Enclave, that era died along with her. Plus leaving would be a pretty poor way of showing gratitude." He said and walked over next to her.

"What gratitude do I have to show you?" Kagami said and actually managed to pull off a decent condescending laugh.

"A lot more than you'd think." Mason said keeping his calm smile. "A few weeks ago I was the one who mended your broken arm, bullet wounds, and morphine addiction when you were captured by Kuroi. But that's nothing compared to what I did over the past few days."

"What did you do over the past several days?" Kagami asked nervously, she was expecting something along the lines of lobotomy and organ dissection. As far as she knew she was using both her brain and organs even the squishy seemingly pointless ones like the liver. _Psh that thing can't even filter alcohol but it still just hangs around. _

"With a little help from my colleagues I managed to perform the most elaborate surgery I've ever done in my life. By all means you should be dead right now Ms. Hiiragi, in fact you were dead when we found you." He answered her sounding proud of his work.

Kagami went pale and flopped back on her back. _Did he just say I was…dead? That can't be right, I don't feel like a zombie or vampire. Then again I don't know what it would feel like to be both of them._

"Dead?" She said skeptically.

"For about fourteen hours yes. All your vital organs were just fine. All it took was a few blood transfusions, several stimpaks, a few metal plates in some of your bones, and a little shock to get you going again." He explained nonchalantly, "You weren't as bad as you looked trust me, and I don't think you want to see the pictures."

Kagami still had one question left on her mind. "Okay, that's impressive and I'm grateful. Really. Just…why? I'm supposed to be the enemy."

"I can answer that." A voice said from an overhead intercom. "Mason, go get the portfolio and portable TV." It was Eden's voice, Mason obliged and walked out.

"I had a feeling you had something to do with it." Kagami said, Eden was the only person in the Enclave she was on remotely good terms with. At least that was a good person to not have hating you.

"I said that in an alternate world that you would have made a fine addition to our ranks. With Kuroi gone and us packing up I think the world has alternated very much." Eden said getting straight to business.

"Do you bring all your potential recruits back from the dead?" Kagami replied with a witty smile, this whole situation was so ridiculous she just couldn't take it seriously.

"Not usually no, however, I believe you are a special case. Your position in Vault 101 was chief engineer, you dealt with technology that was the pinnacle of its time every day correct?" He continued.

"Yeah what about it?" Kagami answered not seeing where he was going with this. Part of her was also under the impression that this was all a dream, just like the underwater thing only a lot less cool.

"Right now we are on the defense, The Brotherhood of Steel has found some prewar super weapon and has the upper hand. Since no results have been found from our operation in the Capital Waste we are leaving. Leaving is not easy task though, we have many bases and stations set up that need to be evacuated, right now the Brotherhood is on the attack and we have no defense against their new weapon."

"What does this have to do with me though?" Kagami asked still not seeing the point, she noticed that Eden liked to really lead up to what he was getting at.

"Simple, right now you are in a large mobile military base nicked named _The Crawler. _This place is relatively new to our arsenal and we don't know all of its functions, all we're asking is that you take a look at some of the terminals and see if you can make sense of it." Eden finally explained, "Most of it we're assuming will help us against the Brotherhood of Steel as we're leaving."

Kagami thought over what he said for a few minutes, she didn't have much love for the Brotherhood and with Kuroi gone the Enclave may be able to redeem itself. Still it still felt like betrayal. "I don't know if I can do that Sir. I don't exactly love the Brotherhood but I don't want to kill them. Not to mention my friends are with them."

"I expected that response, so I've prepared something that may change your mind. I just want you to know that what you're about to see may affect you very strongly." Eden replied. On cue Mason walked back in with a small portable TV under his arms. He set on the table next to her.

"This is footage recorded from one of our eyebots, just watch it and tell us how great and merciful those bastards really are." Mason said and pushed "play".

Kagami watched a blurry video come into focus, it didn't have any sound but it hardly took away from it. In the video there were rows of men and woman in their underwear near the Jefferson memorial with their hands behind their heads on their knees. "These are our soldiers, I was friends with some of them." Mason told her. In the video a Paladin walked up to one at the end of the row and shot him at point blank with a revolver to the head. Kagami looked at it disgust, capital punishment like that was nazism not justice.

Person after person, the Brotherhood would shoot them then throw their body into a pile with the others. "How the hell could they do that, where's Konata to put her foot down and stop this?"

Mason sighed and ejected the video, "You wouldn't believe us if we just told you, so I have video proof. It's from a thermal cam taken from outside the Memorial."

Kagami didn't know what he meant, he slid in another video and fast forwarded it to a certain point. Indeed it was a thermal vision, she could see three white silhouettes enter a circular room with three others, there was flash of white from one of the figures and then another one dropped. She realized that it was when Misao was shot, two others dropped and Kagami watched the one who was originally in there run out the door. That one was Kuroi.

She watched for awhile as Kuroi's white silhouette kicked the crap out of hers. It came to the part where Kuroi detonated the grenade with a flash of white and Kagami disappeared off the thermal. Back in the purifier room Misao's silhouette had disappeared and Konata's was in the purifier chamber messing with something, Akira dragged her out after she collapsed a minute later.

The video turn to static for a second then Akira and Konata both collapsed over. Konata's silhouette was suspended a foot or two off the ground a minute or two later it faded away.

"Her and Kusakabe disappeared, what does that mean?" Kagami asked trying not to assume the worse.

"I think you know that means." Mason said barely managing to avoid eye contact with her. Kagami's heart sunk, her stomach churned, her eyes began to burn and her mouth went dry. It seemed unreal, her two friends (She admitted to Misao being a friend at that point) disappearing off the grid like that. Something in her refused to accept that; they were lying to her. Konata and Misao were still alive and waiting for her to come home.

"Where were the Brotherhood in all of this, why the hell did she go in there? That place has deadly levels of radiation!" Kagami screamed not really expecting an answer. An answer came though, a voice inside her told her what she didn't want to believe with startling clarity. _They sent her and Misao in as bate, why else? Come on Kagami don't be naïve, you were all just pawns for them the whole time. Did you honestly think they included you because they believed you to be a valuable asset? Of course that wasn't the case, they needed cannon fodder and you just managed to out last all the previous pawns. _Her pulse quickened and she became a little short of breath, she ignored it and tried to keep from screaming. They killed her best friend, her love, her Lucky Star, out of blind negligence. Kagami Hiiragi swore that day she'd kill every last one of them.

"You need me to get some prewar tech to fend them off huh." Kagami said smiling wickedly. "Those bastards won't know what hit them." She was distraught and mad with grief at the moment, but anger and hate were a lot more comforting than depression. There would be time for tears later, but first she'd avenge her friends forced sacrifices.

**TWO WEEKS AFTER OPERATION TAKE BACK…**

"Ms. Hiiragi would you please accompany us back to the Citadel?" A young female Brotherhood initiate asked Tsukasa who was contently drinking a Nuka-Cola while letting the surf touch her toes. "Your assistant is welcome to come."

"What's it about?" Tsukasa asked then gave Miyuki a questioning look, Miyuki returned her look with "I don't know either" look.

"I don't know, they didn't tell me. Lyons said it was important though." The initiate replied.

"Elder Lyons himself wants me? Yeah, Yuki-chan can you help me up?" Tsukasa said and extended her arm to Miyuki.

Miyuki helped her up and the three of them walked back up the river, across the bridge and back down the river towards the Citadel. The pavement was mostly destroyed or blasted away but with Miyuki's help, Tsukasa managed to arrive back.

When they arrived several Knight Brothers quickly escorted them inside to the medical wing. They were allowed access into a previously off limits section and into a room where Elder Lyons was sitting on a bench talking to a nurse. The room also had a medical cot with machinery around it, in it was Konata.

"Okay you two are here." The nurse said, "Izumi's been stirring for the last hour or so, we think she's going to wake up soon."

"Kona-chan's going to be okay?" Tsukasa asked excitedly, she had been worrying over her for awhile now. Tsukasa was more worried about her sister though, Kagami had just disappeared at random. For that matter she was worried about all her sisters, Matsuri had joined a raider gang quickly because she was sick of being pushed around by authority or something. Inori wasn't much safer helping Yui with her book either.

"Yes I believe your friend is going to be quite alright." The nurse said and walked past them. "I'm going to leave all of you alone now."

"Did you hear that Yuki-chan? Konata's going to be alright!" Tsukasa cheered again.

"Yes I did Tsukasa-san, I just hope she didn't suffer any long term damage. I'm probably worrying too much…" Miyuki replied nervously, unlike Tsukasa she actually bothered to ask what happened to Konata beyond "she got hurt". The glass had scraped up against her heart and pierced both lungs, luckily with the Brotherhood's quick actions they managed to save her.

**A FEW HOURS LATER…**

Konata awoke with a sharp gasp of air, at first she thought she was choking and now amount of air could sustain her. The feeling passed when she looked around and saw where she was at, it looked like a normal post apocalyptic room with some machinery around the bed she was on. For some reason she was in a hospital gown.

Brief images flashed in her mind that left her gasping for air. Misao pinned against the wall by glass covered in blood and still smiling, herself looking down and seeing a shard of glass going through her. She remembered feeling the intense burning pain and being unable to breath.

"Take it easy, you're safe now." A caring voice from an elderly man consoled her, Konata looked over and saw Elder Lyons there. In the back ground Tsukasa and Miyuki were waving to her and smiling.

"What…what happened?" Konata asked still in a sleepy daze.

"Do you remember what happened before you passed out?" Lyons asked calmly.

"Yeah…I sent Kuroi out so Kagami could kill her and… Wait, where's Kagami!" Konata yelled realizing that her tsundere wasn't there.

Lyons sighed and Konata braced for the worse. "We…we don't know to be honest. All we found were a burnt pile of bones which we presume to be the late General Kuroi's but Kagami was nowhere to be found."

"Then we have to find her!" Konata announced. "Tsukasa, Miyuki lets start our search at Old Olney!"

"Slow down there, a lot has happened since you were asleep. Perhaps some of it may tie into your missing friend." Lyons said trying to calm the eccentric girl down.

"What are you waiting for, tell me!" Konata shouted and jumped into a sitting position. Miyuki was glad to see her friend was still her same old self.

"First things first, we were worried that an explosion may have rendered the purifier useless but your friend Tsukasa stepped in and found out what was wrong. Right now we're distributing bottles as we speak." Lyons told her, in the background Tsukasa smiled and blushed. "Now that we have an effective counter measure against the Enclave we're now driving them out of the Capital Wasteland with Liberty Prime."

"I bet they have Kagami captive somewhere, how many places are there left to check out?" Konata asked seemingly ignoring everything else. She was impressed by Tsukasa though, in her eyes she was the unsung hero of the group.

"They only have one major base left but we have yet to locate it. In three days Sentinel Shiraishi is leading an assault against a relay tower of theirs to find it." Lyons replied.

Konata jumped out of the bed, pulling IV needles out of her arm as she went. "Count me in! Send an errand boy to fetch my armor and gauss rifle." She remembered that Misao had given her the gun before she died saying something about how it belonged to her a long time ago. Konata assumed those were delirious ramblings before death.

"Hold on there young miss. You're in no condition to be running about, especially not fighting anyone or anything." Lyons protested. Konata ignored her and ran over to her two friends and grabbed them both into the best hug she could muster.

"I don't care if I'm missing both my legs, I'm gonna go find Kagami." Konata declared firmly. "First my Dad, then Misao, I'm not loosing her too."

"You are truly determined aren't you?" Lyons remarked.

"Of course I am. Tsukasa, Miyuki, you two will help me right?" Konata replied and looked at her two friends. They both gave her a nervous glance and that was all the answer she needed.

"It's not that we don't want to help…" Tsukasa said nervously. "It's just that…well, we can't."

"Don't say that Tsukasa, I know you are a capable fighter." Konata replied trying to lift the girls spirits.

"Konata I can't walk without help." Tsukasa reminded while trying to stifle laughter. "I can't shoot a gun either, especially against trained soldiers."

"Konata-san, none of us our soldiers. It would be better to leave the fighting to people who are trained to fight. If Kagami-san is still alive then we should let the Brotherhood of Steel find her." Miyuki added, she definitely agreed with Tsukasa. "Plus there's plenty of work that needs to be done around here. The three of us could help out and try to just forget about warfare for the time being."

The blunette looked at the ground feeling defeated. "Kagami _is _still alive and it's up to me to rescue her. She'd do the same for me so I'm not going to just sit back and let some other people do it for me!"

"Please be rational." Miyuki pleaded. "This is the first time in weeks I've had a chance to see you and you're already trying to leave."

"I'm sorry, but I just have to do this." Konata said quietly. She tried to walk out but after being comatose for two weeks it came out as a stumble. "I'll bring you both a back a souvenir."

Tsukasa tried to stand up and protest but Miyuki held her back. "Let her go Tsukasa-san. I think she cares more for Kagami-san than she does her own life." Miyuki told her.

**ABOUT FOUR DAYS BEFORE THAT…**

Kagami had to admit that she was impressed by the layout of the Crawler. The topmost floor that housed the defense mechanisms was in ruin though. Most of the machinery was going to take a lot of work to get working again, she was definitely going to need an assistant.

"So what do you think we should do first?" Wilder, the assistant provided by the Enclave for her, asked. Kagami already didn't like him, and he openly disliked his new her and the concept of working for her.

"I'm going to need an assistant to make this work." Kagami answered and surveyed what she had in front of her. There were several computer terminal which all had different functions. She had the feeling that they weren't limited to controlling the defense system of the crawler.

"I thought I was your assistant or something." Her underling answered.

"No offense but I really don't trust you. Not your motives nor your abilities." Kagami told him and walked over to get a closer look at the multiple terminals. Not in bad condition and they still had power. She guessed that they were probably protected with dozens of firewalls and she would have to teach herself how to work them. A fair challenge.

"Then send in a request for someone other than me. In fact I'll do it for you." Wilder replied cynically.

"I have a better idea." Kagami replied with a false grin. She had been thinking about everyone she knew and who would be a suitable candidate to make this work for her. Only one person came to mind. That person was a lot like her and probably wouldn't begrudge her for her change of career. "Get a pilot and a Vertibird ready. Tell them to drop us off at the Meresti Trainyard."

"You're just a private contractor, you don't have the authority to order that." Wilder protested, Kagami replied with an open handed slap across his face.

"Don't question me." She hissed. "You're a Major right?"

"Yeah." Wilder sighed. "And yes I do have the authority to get a Vertibird. Fuck, you're going to get me fired. I just know it."

"Stop whining and get it done." She snarled at him. Kagami didn't like working for these people and didn't like working with them either. If she could find a way to destroy the Brotherhood of Steel with this prewar tech then she use it one them too. The Capital Wasteland just couldn't handle two factions like them at once.

"Aye aye Kuroi number two." Wilder muttered and walked off to follow her order. It figured that after his old boss died he'd get another just like her. _Meet the new boss, same as the old boss._

**AT MERESTI A COUPLE HOURS LATER**

"Hey Iwasaki, another tripped our sensors." Wolfgang, a Family member informed the green haired girl.

"How many?" She asked and cocked her Infiltrator rifle. That gun was a modified assault rifle with a scope and silencer, she found it fitting when she prowled the night.

"Only two, they're coming from the east. What should do about them?" Wolfgang told her and asked.

"I'll deal with them." Minami told him and began to walk off towards the east subway tunnel. "If it's more Talon merc's then I'll let everyone just tear in."

"You said specifically we only drink the blood." Wolfgang said in surprise.

Minami shrugged, "Sometimes I just want to bite into a human heart every once in awhile. I'm pretty sure everyone else agrees with me. Even Yutaka." Her voice echoed out from the darkness. Although she wasn't any more human than anyone else, her night vision was vastly superior to the average Joe.

It didn't take long for her to spot two figures walking through the darkness towards her home. By their black and gray striped outfits she could tell it was two Enclave members, officers by the looks of it. One was a slim girl with short hair and the other was taller equally skinny guy with shoulder length dark hair. When she got closer she instantly recognized the girl, even with her hair cut about as short as her own.

"Why does this not surprise me?" Minami asked rhetorically as Kagami and her unknown partner walked up to her. "They were quick to replace Kuroi, huh? And by the looks of it they weren't picky." The man next to Kagami quickly nodded in agreement.

"It's more complicated than you think." Kagami said and left it at that. "Anyways I need your help with something."

To Kagami's surprise Minami just laughed. "You Enclave puppies are adorable you know that? I'm the first person you ask for help, but you send Talon mercenaries after me when things don't go your way."

"Well you are an information broker aren't you?"

"Among other things…" Minami replied. "Anyways, whatever you want the answer is no."

"If you tell me what I want to know then I'll get those Talon mercs off your back." Kagami told her, she didn't know if she could do that but it was worth a try.

"I'm not sure if I want that. The Family and I have resorted to drinking blood from transfusion packs we find in first aid kits. It's no where near as good as the real thing but it cures our craving. These Talon guys are giving us an endless source of blood we can enjoy without remorse." Minami told her and turned to walk away. She was done with the two of them. She heard a gun click behind her.

Kagami was pointing a laser pistol at her now. "Just tell me where Matsuri Hiiragi is and I'll go on my way."

Minami sighed and shrugged at the same time. "You came out here just to ask me that? You didn't even try to find it out on your own. Anyways, she's at Evergreen Mills."

**BACK TO THE PART WITH TSUKASA AND MIYUKI…**

Konata had run off to gather her gear which consisted of stripped down power armor matched to fit her size; and a gauss rifle that was handed down to her from the late Misao. Tsukasa wanted to argue her cause more but knew it would be fruitless, her and Kagami were stubborn when it came to their ambitions. To release the stress and tension Miyuki decided the two of the should go down the shore and enjoy the unirradiated ocean waves.

"If Kona-chan gets hurt it's gonna be all my fault since I couldn't stop her." Tsukasa sniffled, her friend was on the warpath and there was nothing she could do.

"Don't talk like that Tsukasa-san, perhaps it's best that Konata-san does this." Miyuki replied.

"How could this be good for her? She almost died once." Tsukasa exclaimed, she was astounded that Miyuki could even suggest that.

"Keep in mind that she isn't alone, also the accident that harmed her wasn't combat related. The rest of the Brotherhood of Steel and their weapon Liberty Prime are accompanying her as well." Miyuki explained to her. "If anything it will bring her the peace of mind she desperately needs."

Tsukasa thought about for a minute. "I wish I was as smart as you and Kagami. You two seem to know the answer to everything, I just always seem to be in the way."

"Get in the way? What makes you think that?" Miyuki asked, if anything Tsukasa seemed to be the exact opposite.

"Well compared to my sister and Konata I don't really do much." Tsukasa answered glumly, "Konata ran through Minefield without getting blown up or shot, she found her dad in Vault 112 by herself, and started Project Purity after fighting through legions of enemies. Kagami went through Vault 87 and rescued me from Raven Rock by herself and fought alongside Konata. I haven't done anything heroic like that."

Miyuki strongly disagreed with that statement. "Excuse me if I'm incorrect but didn't you save Kagami after she was shot in Minefield? I wasn't there so I don't know for sure."

"Yeah, that was me."

"Didn't you also leave the Capital Wasteland to help a woman save her daughter? You went to Maryland if I'm right, and you went alone and braved all sorts of danger right?"

"Yeah, there were lot's of things that tried to eat me there." Tsukasa replied, she didn't know exactly where Miyuki was going with this. She wanted to forget about her time at Point Lookout.

"Then you were the one who helped Konata-san after a gun turret shot her right?" Miyuki added.

"Yeah, Kagami doesn't know first aid like I do."

"Then you were the one who got the GECK to work even if it meant working for an opposite faction. Even after they lied to you, you kept working on Project Purity." Miyuki reminded her again.

"Yeah, but what does this have to do with what I was saying earlier?" Tsukasa asked, sure she did all of that but it wasn't very impressive. Miyuki smiled at her and realized she still didn't understand.

"Kagami-san and Konata-san may be brave in the traditional sense but you're a different kind of hero Tsukasa." Miyuki told her. "You did all of those heroic deeds without asking for a single thing in return. Don't you see Tsukasa-san? Wielding a weapon isn't courage, doing the right thing even when it endangers you and not once complaining or asking for a single thing in return is courage. Even if no one else realizes at you're _my _hero Tsukasa-san."

Tsukasa looked at Miyuki with watery eyes. That was by far the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her and meant it. She was right too; Tsukasa never complained or asked for anything. She didn't need to either. The lilac haired girl hugged Miyuki and buried her head into the taller girls well endowed bosom. "I love you Yuki-chan!"

Miyuki was a bit startled by that response. She realized that it wasn't a romantic kind of love; it was the love an emotional frail girl who had been used and betrayed one too many times.

"Yuki-chan…you wouldn't ever do anything to hurt me right?" Tsukasa nervously asked, she was gently crying now.

"Of course not, why would you ask something like that?" Miyuki told her and asked. That was not a typical thing Tsukasa asked people.

"Nana-chan, the last person who was nice to me was only using me." Tsukasa answered. "I felt so lonely and she was the only friend I had, but in the end she never like me at all. She was the one who hurt my leg and stole the GECK from Kagami."

Miyuki felt a strong sense of sympathy for the frail girl. It was hard to believe someone could be so heartless to take advantage of Tsukasa's good will. Despite being a nonviolent person Miyuki was damn well glad that Nanako Kuroi had been reduced to a collection of charred bones and ashes.

**AROUND THE SAME TIME**

"Okay Kagami I have to ask." Matsuri said pulling her younger sister from her thoughts. "I've been as understanding about this as much as I can but…seriously what the fuck?"

"What do you mean?" Kagami asked, she was going through the console commands of a terminal and trying to figure out its functions. This one apparently could remotely take control and override the functions several security systems in Adams Airforce base. That could come in handy considered the Crawler was parked outside of Adams, which was riddled with lot's of turrets.

"The past several days I've asked no questions but not anymore." Matsuri replied. "This is the Enclave right? The same guys who shot Tsukasa and captured her, captured you, then captured you again right?"

"Right."

"The same guys who _killed _you." Matsuri said trying to get it right. "I don't care if they used their magic science or not to bring you back; this isn't right."

Kagami stood up and shook her head. Fair enough questions, this was why she wanted Matsuri on her side. She needed someone to talk to about her ambitions. "Listen, yes I'm working for the Enclave but it's not exactly what you think."

"Okay, explain. Also explain why you involved me anyways." Matsuri demanded.

"The Capital Wasteland has been torn apart by these two warring factions. The Enclave has made peoples live hell and the Brotherhood of Steel isn't doing much better. This is my, no _our_, destroy to destroy them." Kagami whispered to her, "Besides it beats being a raider. Come on Matsuri you're better than that."

"It was fun while it lasted." Her sister said. "So let me guess. You're going to unleash hell on those Brotherhood guys then betray these guys and blow them to hell too?"

"This is why I wanted you next to me." Kagami told her. "I know we never got along great back in the vault but we're a lot alike when you think about it."

"I guess you're right." Matsuri shrugged. "Umm, I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you when you came back to Vault 101."

Kagami patted her on the shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry about it, I was behaving like an ass back then anyways. Someone needed to slap some sense into me anyways."

"If you say so. Anyways I'm going to get back to scanning for other relays." Matsuri said and sat back down at the terminal Kagami had got working again. This one apparently established remote connections with different satellite relays and military bases. Kagami had told her that it was possible to activate some of their functions from there, and if they were in the Capital Wasteland they could be used against the Brotherhood of Steel.

After an hour of blankly staring at the screen Matsuri spoke up. "Hey Kagami, I got something."

"What is it?" Kagami asked excitedly but didn't move from her spot.

"Looks like I got a connection to a satellite. Could be military but I can't tell." She replied. Kagami bolted out of her seat and nearly threw Matsuri out of the way to look for herself. Indeed it was a military satellite, after fiddling around with it for a few minutes Kagami got the screen to display these words.

_Awaiting input coordinates for orbital strike, three payloads remaining._

Each payload apparently consisted of two dozen predator missiles. More than enough to destroy any settlement or military base in the Capital Wastes. Kagami grabbed Matsuri and squeezed her tight. "Ah man I freaking love you!"

Her plan would be to destroy Liberty Prime when the Brotherhood made another attack. Destroy the Citadel and then destroy the Crawler with her in it. Now she had the tools to do it.


	23. Shinigami Kagami

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 22- KAGAMI SHINIGAMI**

Although I titled the last chapter "Prequel to the Sequel" I didn't really have a sequel in mind in the traditional sense. I guess you could call this a sequel if wanted. Just saying I'm not creating a brand new story for this.

**UNDER A STARLESS SKY**

Konata wished she could have spent more time with Miyuki and Tsukasa, but if she wanted to partake in the next assault she'd had to leave the next day. It was around five in the morning and she had just woken up, within the next thirty minutes she'd leave out to rendezvous with the Brotherhood of Steel. The satcom relay they were attacking was just outside of what was considered the border of the capital wastes. It was located in the very southwest most corner just past a tiny settlement called Girdershade and the Dunwhich Building.

So here she was alone in the darkness of the wastes. Konata wasn't scared or lonely, just disappointed at the way a lot of things had turned out. After thinking about it she realized it was rather naïve to think that everything would have ended happily ever after. Endings like that just didn't happen, that didn't stop her from hoping for the best. Konata would cling to hope and try and uncover Kagami's fate even if it killed her. Which she really wished it wouldn't since she was sure Kagami felt the same way about her. She hadn't realized it at first but Kagami had tried to confess on multiple occasions.

As she was walking away from the abandoned shack she had slept on, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Konata cried out for a second and turned around to meet her mystery shoulder tapper. Behind her was Minami and her cousin Yutaka.

"What are you two doing all the way out here!?" Konata gasped. Once again Minami had appeared out of the shadows like a ghost. A ghost who randomly showed up to give out information or warnings. Konata could understand why people thought she was creepy.

"We heard that you were going to look for Kagami-san." Yutaka answered cheerfully. "We wanted to help since we know you like her and no one else is helping."

"Yu-chan…" Konata muttered in happiness. She hugged her small cousin. "Are you sure you're willing to do go with me against the Enclave. Sure we have Liberty Prime but these are trained soldiers and you're not a warrior.

Yutaka giggled her innocent giggle. "I won't be doing any fighting. I brought along a first aid kit incase you or Minami-chan got hurt."

"No harm will come to her." Minami assured Konata. "Let's get going, sitting around her won't get us anywhere." Konata nodded. She didn't question Minami's strange motives but just accepted the help. Minami didn't really seem to have a side in all of this. The only binding factor was that Minami hated the Enclave with violent passion. Konata couldn't help but wonder about it, all she knew was that Minami had run with them and had some issues with Kuroi.

Yutaka talked to Minami nearly nonstop as they walked on. Konata noticed her gentle smile and the way she nodded to whatever Yutaka said. It was a stark contrast to the bitterness and spite she showed towards nearly everyone else. Konata wasn't sure what it was that drew those two together, but it was heartwarming to watch.

As the sun was rising they found the entrance to a car tunnel off the main road. This was where the Brotherhood of Steel had set up their base. They used an electronic switch to open a large metal door and entered to Brotherhood's makeshift camp.

Inside were a dozen or soldiers including Minoru Shiraishi and scribe Rothschild. Minoru waved them over. "Izumi-san, I was told you might show up but I wasn't counting on it."

"You honestly thought I'd miss this chance to kick some power armored butt?" Konata smirked and loaded her new gauss rifle, everyone moved about a foot away from her when she did that. "Oh yeah, these two are on our side too."

"The more the merrier I guess." Minoru shrugged. "Just make sure they don't get in the way. Anyways I guess you'll probably want me to brief you on everything you missed."

"I know what I missed. You guys kicked ass and took some names." Konata shrugged, she really didn't want to listen to him lecture. "Oh yeah, how is Akira-san doing?"

Minoru shook his head gravely. "She actually got it a lot worse than you did. She took several shards of glass in the neck and ended up getting a more severe dose of radiation than you did. She's comatose like you were, except she isn't showing signs of recovery." Konata knew why that was, she had too much left to live for unlike Akira who had no dreams or major ambitions.

"Enough chatter. Tell us the battle plans." Minami said sounding a trifle bit impatient. Minoru leered at her, he knew she had been with Enclave before and he wasn't keen on taking directions from her.

"Alright." He replied calmly and sighed. "When Rothschild gets Liberty Prime on the highway there then we're going to start the attack. We're going to head up the cliff side that runs along the road. Prime will clear the way of Vertibirds and force barriers and blast a way into the relay station itself. From there we'll charge in and fight our way to the top, then we'll upload the coordinates to their hidden base."

"How long until Prime gets here?" Konata asked, she was barely able to stay in place from excitement. How could she? She was about to embark on an epic quest to save her Kagamin.

"I can answer that." Rothschild said after walking up to their group. "Prime is currently positioned down the highway ready for the attack. I recommend you get everyone together before the Enclave figures out what we're doing and starts a counter measure."

They did just that. The Knight Brothers and Paladins loaded up and donned their armor. Konata insisted that her and Minami take point. Minami had come along with her katana _Vampire's Edge _which had just gone through its sixth reforging and was ready for battle, other than that she had just brought a 10mm SMG incase something happened to her blade.

As they were marching down the tunnel that lead to the highway, Minami pulled Yutaka aside. "Wait, I almost forgot…" She pulled a small device roughly the size of a baseball out of one of her pockets and handed it to the small girl. "Use this until we can into the relay tower."

Yutaka nodded and pressed several buttons on the small widget. Konata watched in awe as her cousin poofed from thin air. "W-what was that?" She asked barely able to form words.

"It really works huh?" She heard Yutaka giggle.

"Stealthboy." Minami said answered the blunette's question. "They give the user an active camouflage which effectively makes them invisible. Works especially well in the dark, how did you think I got around unseen so much?"

"I never really thought about it." Konata replied, she wished she had one of those. Then she could figure out Miyuki's bust size once and for all and other things.

They exited the tunnel through a side door and entered the light. After two hundred years the highway had turned into some sort of valley. The road ran straight into a massive towerlike structure with a satellite dish and ended in front of it. They were on the right of it on a cliff face twenty feet above the road. Apparently this is where the Enclave expected them to go since they had set up multiple energy barriers and defenses along the way. Nothing Liberty Prime couldn't handle.

On the left of them the massive battle mech lumbered into view. It blasted the first energy barrier down and incinerated the poor guys tasked at guarding it. "**BETTER DEAD THAN RED!**"

"He may be confused about his location but at least he's happy." Konata shrugged. If convincing him he was fighting Chinese in Anchorage is what it took then by all means it was fine by her. She noticed one Enclave soldier had managed to escape the barrage of lasers, she took aim with her new weapon and fire. The crack from it was nearly deafening and the recoil felt like it nearly dislocated her shoulder. All in all she had expected worse from a weapon that was just about her size.

"**EMBRACE DEMOCRACY, OR YOU WILL BE ERADICATED!**" Prime bellowed and blasted down the last two barriers. The Brotherhood sprinted down the cliff face now that their opposition was crushed.

**RETALIATION**

"Clicky."Kagami tapped one key on the terminal in front of her then spun around on her chair with a wicked grin on her face. She saw three officers enter the room, Matsuri scrambled to get out of their way.

"Hiiragi." One of them said sounding not particularly thrilled about something.

"Y-yes?" Matsuri answered nervously from behind a desk. All sense of bravery she had disappeared when it came to dealing with Enclave.

The man sighed and buried his face in his palm. "The other one."

"Yes sir?" Kagami said and stood up. She put on her best attentive pose, she had an idea of what this was about.

"The Brotherhood of Steel has launched another attack on a key relay tower." He replied grimly. "I don't know why Eden put a wastelander in charge of this but at this point I don't even care. Either you give us some defense against that thing or both you and your sister are going to be facing some unhappy consequences. The kind that end in death."

Kagami just smiled. "Already taken care of." She was happy, this was the first step in her road to vengeance. Now was the chance to see how well these missiles worked.

**DEATH FROM ABOVE**

Liberty Prime finished destroying the last of outside forces. After that he moved onto using mini-nukes to blast a hole in the concrete base of the relay tower. What few soldiers were left quickly scrambled inside the hole Liberty had blasted.

Konata looked up and saw several Falling Stars in the sky, she quickly made her wish three times. "I wish Kagami was safe, I wish Kagami was safe, I wish Kagami was safe." Surprisingly the stars were still zooming across the sky, "Wait a second…"

Seemingly out of nowhere he stopped his onslaught and stood rigid. Before anyone could question why he had stopped it was answered for them. "**RED CHINESE ORBITAL STIKE DETECTED. BRACING FOR IMPACT!**" Those Falling Stars became larger and larger as they descended down on them. Konata dived into the rocks and found a nice hidey hole. She didn't see the explosion by she felt the ground shake violently underneath her for what felt like minutes. In reality it was only a couple of seconds.

Minami stood in place and watched the blinding explosion with an expression of awe. She was overcome with a strange wave of déjà vu as the waves of heat and shrapnel buffeted her. A pieces of metal sliced the back of her and impaled her right arm, she ignored it and kept on looking at the fireball. The screams around her, the heat, the blinding light, it was so similar to when she was in the Enclave herself. _This feels like when Kuroi torched all those people and almost took me out too. But this time there was nothing I could do, so why do I feel bad? No, I know why I feel bad. I had the chance to kill Kagami and I let it pass. _

Konata peered out into the wreckage. Liberty Prime had been blown in half, his upper half was dragging itself through the rocky ground in no direction in particular. "**I DIE…SO DEMOCRACY MAY LIVE…**" Were his last words before he self destructed.

That explosion was a lot less than the first one in terms of size but nonetheless destructive. Konata saw that nearly half the Brotherhood members with them had been killed by the explosion or the following debris. Minoru sprinted towards her, his power armor had protected him by the blast. Minami soon followed, she was clutching her upper left arm with her right hand. Blood was dripping through her pale fingers.

"What…was that!?" Minoru yelled.

Minami shook her head and muttered, "Shinigami Kagami." under her breath. No one else heard her. "Let's keep moving while we still have the advantage." She said confidently and unsheathed _Vampire's Edge_.

"Minami-chan you're hurt!" Yutaka, who literally just appeared out of nowhere, cried out.

"Just a bit of shrapnel, we'll fix it up after this is done." The kensei told her softly and stroked the side of Yutaka's face with her non-bloody hand. Konata noticed when Minami talked to Yutaka she was almost a completely different person. Her stone cold demeanor and cool confidence was replaced by a kind, maternal sort of chivalry.

"She's right." Konata said, "Let's take who's left and finish this." Minoru sighed looking extremely unsure of himself.

"You two are right." He said after moment of thinking. "Let's go everyone! We're almost done with this." The four remaining Knight Brothers rallied up and the group went through the hole Liberty had created for them before being destroyed.

The incredibly surprised Enclave guards fell quickly to the Brotherhood of Steel's remaining members. They entered what was the tower itself, a massive room that was at least two hundred feet high with stairs winding up to the top. Enclave forces were sprinting down to meet them. Konata counted at least a dozen just from what she could see at the bottom.

The railing provided the Enclave some cover from conventional weapons and along with their power armor they had the upper hand. However, they were up against Konata and Minami who were not using conventional weapons. One of them had almost made it to the bottom before being blown away by the 2mm round of Konata's gauss rifle. Konata had to admit that thing was almost _too _powerful.

Like a liquid shadow, Minami ran up the stairs with her blade thirsting for blood. Everyone else had to watch their shots as the green haired girl charged straight into danger. Minami impaled one unfortunate soldier through the neck between his armor and helmet. She pivoted the corpse to her side and used it like a riot shield to block oncoming fire and progress up the stairs.

When she approached the next soldier, she slammed the body of her recent kill into him and used his daze to slip behind and embed her combat knife in their throat. An officer ran down to meet her but kept his distance. He raised his 10mm pistol and took aim.

Minami spun around and brought her knife and katana up in a defensive cross. There was spray of sparks as the 10mm round was deflected. She threw her broken knife aside and lunged at him with her blade. The katana punctured the unfortunate officer through his midsection, Minami removed her sword and let him fall to the ground.

"That was my favorite knife." She said down to him. "Belonged to my grandfather."

Her wounded opponent could only look up and cough blood. Several more soldiers ran down and kept their weapons trained at her. She placed the tip of _Vampire's Edge _against the throat of the man she had stabbed. "Stand."

He reluctantly made his way to his feet while clutching his punctured chest. Minami roughly spun him around and put him in a lock with the edge of her blade against his neck. She could hear the others following up behind her now.

"Let him down, we can end this without any more bloodshed." The leader of the squadron in front of her said, not said- pleaded. "You can all just turn around now and forget about this. You have us outgunned and we know that."

Minami smiled back at them and let _Vampire's Edge _fall to the ground in a loud clatter. The soldiers noticeably relaxed. She smiled again and lowered her head to the edge of the officers neck and breathed on it. He shuttered at the strange sensation, he went ridged as Minami pressed her lips against his neck. Those watching were mesmerized by this completely arbitrary display of affection, until they realized that it wasn't affectionate.

She sunk her teeth into the flesh of his neck then shook and gnashed her teeth to tear open the wound more. The man's comrades were too horrified to act, he screams as blood poured forth in a thick torrent. Minami lowered the both of them and gave Konata a clear shot with her gauss rifle, the rest of the brotherhood followed suit. The Commander could lay there as Minami tore at his throat with her teeth and watch his companions die in a flurry of bullets. His thrashing eventually stopped and Minami stood up and retrieved _Vampire's Edge._

More reinforcements charged down at them. She sprinted straight into battle with her blade thirsting for more blood. Konata watched her dance of death in amazement, she weaved in and out between them with the grace of a dancer and the heart of a killer.

The ones she didn't kill were eradicated either by Konata's gauss rifle or the rest of the Brotherhood with them. Within minutes they were at the apex of the tower. Konata opened the last electronic door and charged through with her gauss rifle ready. Out of her blind spot, an Enclave scientist took several shots at her with a 14mm pistol. The rounds pinged harmlessly off her handmedown armor.

As she was about to pull the trigger and blow that poor sucker in half, his head just slid off his body. Blood sprayed from the open wound and dotted Konata's face, all she could do was stare in wonder. Out of the shadows Minami materialized out of thin air.

"Warn people before you do that!" Konata shouted in mock anger. "I could of shot you."

"No you couldn't have." Minami smiled.

"I know…"

The room they were in was small and cluttered with machinery. There was a flight of stairs leading off somewhere else to the left of the entrance. The main feature was the large terminal on the center of the wall across from the entrance.

"Little problem here." Minoru said nervously and entered the room. "The Paladin who had the device that would upload the coordinates was killed during the orbital strike." That indeed was a problem.

"I have an idea!" Konata said confidently and walked up to the terminal. After looking at it and her Pip-Boy, she looked through the different console commands and options that the device on her forearm had. Since she had no prior knowledge of what it was capable she was mainly just randomly scrolling through different functions until she found one that looked useful. A wireless download function, after calibrating it to the terminal she downloaded the coordinates to her Pip-Boy.

"Now to get these back to the Citadel." She muttered to herself. "Don't worry Kagamin I'm coming for you!"

**BACK ON THE HOMEFRONT…**

Konata greatly enjoyed the commute home since they were able to fly by Vertibird. After Operation Take It Back there were still a few of the helicopters still left. It didn't take long for the Brotherhood of Steel to make them work for themselves. The trip had left her a bit nauseous, but it didn't do much to hinder the experience of flying. It was disappointing that there weren't any windows to look out while she was coming home.

So now she was just sitting there in the lab portion of the Citadel enjoying a new book she had purchased. _The Wasteland Survival Guide, _written by Yui Narumi; coauthored by Konata Izumi, Kagami Hiiragi, Tsukasa Hiiragi, and Inori Hiiragi. Although most of the information (especially in the latter half) was grossly inaccurate it was still a good read. Just as she was getting in a juicy bit about how to reformat robots to kill for you, she overheard a loud argument.

"…I don't think it even matters anymore with Liberty Prime gone." It was scribe Rothschild, "Attacking The Crawler at this point would be suicide. We have nothing to counteract their aerial support and turrets."

Then she heard Lyons, "Then send Izumi in for plan B. She's more than capable and would gladly do it."

"And chase a pipe dream?" Rothschild argued, "Old Olney is extremely dangerous and we don't even know for sure if a Tesla Coil is still there."

Konata stood up and silently slid next to them. "What about me and Old Olney? I told you that was a good place to look for Kagami."

Rothschild gave her an irritated look, "We're not talking about your little friend here. No sense in hiding anything from you. It could take months to repair Liberty Prime and we don't have that kind of time. We have the schematics for a new weapon called a Tesla Cannon. The Tesla Cannon is portable and operated by one person, it has the capacity to destroy Vertibirds and Enclave turrets in one shot."

"Where can I get one of those." Konata asked greedily, her eyes were shining with desire for a weapon like that.

"Like I said we only have schematics." Rothschild repeated. "It's relatively simple to construct really. We just need an extremely rare component. A Tesla Coil."

"…and you want me to get it?" Konata asked with sly grin. "If I get to use it then the answer is yes."

"That sounds a lot like blackmail you know." Rothschild said sounding defeated. "Anyways, actually we were planning on outfitting on you in the first place. You've proven to be extremely capable and motivated."

"Just point me in the right direction." Konata said.

Rothschild told her that she was to go to Old Olney, a small town a days journey north of there. The Tesla Coil itself was located under an old power plant, to get to it she would have to go through the sewers. There was a catch though, Old Olney had the single largest Deathclaw population in the world and the Enclave would no doubt be tracking her. Just another day in the life of Konata Izumi.

"Going to Deathclaw central huh?" Minami remarked as Konata sat back down in her chair. The green haired girl was there with Yutaka. Her cousin was asleep on Minami's lap, she was gently stroking the small girl's hair.

"Nothing I can't handle." Konata said confidently.

"Until you have to reload and one of them beheads you." Minami said nonchalantly. "I've been doing some thinking you know?"

"I don't know."

"Anyways, I have to admit what you're doing is actually pretty noble." Minami admitted and softly caressed Yutaka's cheek. "I know what it's like to risk your life to protect someone you love. So I've decided that I'm going to help you try to rescue your friend. I'm pretty sure she's still alive."

"Wow…thanks!" Konata said, she was unable to think of anything more elaborate to say. Minami just nodded, the truth was if she came across Kagami. she would kill her. Every aspect of that girl disgusted her, she was willing to kill so many people for revenge that wouldn't change anything. She had so willingly accepted Konata's apparent death without thinking that Konata could have been saved. Which she had been. If Konata was there to witness her execution than so be it. Minami knew that Konata loved Kagami and that was her motivation for all of this, but Kagami wasn't the same person. Kagami was a twisted machine bent on killing everything she could before she died. Now that she had gotten the satellites to function again it was only a matter of time until she destroyed everything humanity had done to recover.

Minami Iwasaki was sure of one thing in the chaos of the wastes. Kagami Hiiragi must die.


	24. Final Preparations

**FALLING STARS CHAPTER 23- ONE FINAL PREPARATION**

Konata was definitely grateful for Minami's assistance, but it sort of worried her. It seemed a bit odd that the woman would drop everything to help her, she believed that her motives went beyond hating the Enclave. Despite her worries, she didn't believe that Minami would do anything to betray her. She also _hoped _Minami wouldn't betray her, after what she had done to that officer, Konata did not want to be on her bad side. What Minami had done to him genuinely frightened Konata. She had been close enough to hear that horrible sound of his flesh being pulled away from his neck by her teeth. It scared her more to think that Yutaka had done the same thing to others at one point.

The path that laid ahead of her was clear. Even if there wasn't a Tesla Coil she would still find a way to find and rescue Kagami from the mobile Crawler. If Minami could be stealthy, then Konata would just take after her and launch a solo mission. Dangerous but necessary, in Konata's eyes at least.

It had been a day after their successful attack against the relay and Konata was restless with boredom. Within the next hour her and Minami would set off to Old Olney, Konata was not looking forward to the walk though. If it were with Tsukasa or someone else then it would be bearable, but Minami never said anything to start conversations.

Speaking of her new companion, Minami walked into Konata's small room. "Yutaka left with Tsukasa-san to visit their sisters in Megaton. I'm ready to leave when you are."

Konata jumped up out of her seat and stood as tall as she could muster. "Let's get crackin' now and we'll be there by tomorrow."

"We can get there in an hour if you want." Minami said in her usual monotone voice. Konata tried to think of a faster transportation method but could only think of one way.

"I don't think they'd lend us one of the two Vertibirds." Konata replied.

Minami chuckled softly. "Follow me." Konata obliged and followed the mysterious girl out into the courtyard and out the gates. Just outside the Citadel was a motorcycle hidden in the rubble of the D.C. ruins.

"This is yours?" Konata asked. If it was then it certainly explained how the girl got around so fast.

"Correct." Minami replied and fastened their stuff into the saddlebags at the side of the vehicle. "If you'd rather walk, I'd understand. I'm riding though." And with that she hopped on it. Konata slid on the back behind Minami and wrapped her hands around the slim girl's waist, it felt strange feeling the smooth leather of Minami's duster. Konata could also _smell _her, a mixed of faded leather from her duster and then a strange smell; like vinegar and copper. She was nervous about riding one of those things but trusted in Minami's driving skill. Trust wasn't the right word, more like "hoped" she was a skilled driver.

"This is safe right?" Konata asked nervously, she wasn't sure if she was going to regret this or not.

"Only crashed twice." Minami replied nonchalantly. "In the saddlebag on your left are two pairs of goggles. Hand one to me and take the other." Konata sifted through the bag and found the two pairs, one was smaller than the other. She handed Minami the larger pair and donned the smaller one, which was bit of a tight fit. The blunette assumed they were the pair Yutaka used. For some reason that thought inspired some courage, if Yutaka could do this than so could she.

As soon as she wrapped her arms around Minami again, the bike started. Before Konata could brace herself or protest, the vehicle started moving. She felt her stomach churn as they blasted through the D.C. ruins next to the riverside. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, Minami making consistent hairpin turns didn't make her feel any better.

Within minutes they were zooming across the open wastes. Konata had the urge to throw up but it would pass then reappear without warning. Minami taking the bike off of random jumps wasn't making her feel better. They weren't stuntman kind of jumps, just little bounces really, but they still make Konata sick to her stomach.

The sun had just risen to the center of the sky as they came to the outskirts of a ruined town. Besides the D.C. ruins it was the largest prewar town Konata had seen. It was large enough to have multiple large office buildings and a main street. Old Olney had been walled off by a makeshift scrap metal and wood fence that had long since fallen into disrepair. The fence was crumbling in multiple places.

Minami parked the motorcycle and leaned it against a tree. Konata reluctantly climbed off it, her knees buckled and she collapsed into the sun baked sand. After an hour of bumpy riding she finally lost her squirrel stew breakfast. She climbed back to her feet after vomiting and regained her composure.

"Look." Minami said, seemingly ignoring the regurgitated mess at her feet. She pointed towards the fence around the town, two Deathclaws were positioned there and eying them.

Konata woozily grabbed her gauss rifle from the motorcycle and aimed it at them. Minami pushed the barrel down. "They're just scoping us out for now. Let's try not to piss them off."

"Good idea." Konata muttered and resisted the urge to throw up again. "From what I heard we need to go into the sewers and find a way into the power plant from there."

"Speaking of piss…" Minami said to herself, she unbuttoned her duster and threw it on top of the motorcycle and began walking the other way.

"Where're you going?" Konata asked and watched her walk away.

"To relieve myself thank you, if I hold it I'll get a bladder infection." Minami answered like it was a casual conversation. She waved her arm, signaling Konata to turn around. "Look the other way, I'm toilet shy if you know what I mean."

Konata obeyed and turned around, she watched the Deathclaws in the distance pace back and forth. Her eyes wandered to the motorcycle next to her, it had been refurbished nicely. Konata had seen other bikes throughout the wastes, she was curious about seeing how hard it was to get one working again.

She turned around to ask Minami about it and forgot why she was supposed to be facing the other way. Minami was squatted down ten meters away by a tree, Konata saw a clear view of her pale, milky-white thighs, her khaki pants at her knees, the shimmer of liquid beneath her against the sun, the redness on Minami's face, the redness that turned to a look of anger.

"Turn around, turn around, fucking turn around!" Minami screamed at her, Konata laughed as Minami fell backwards into the dirt. Konata realized she had just signed her death warrant.

The kensei stood up and pulled her panties back on and her pants halfway. She hopped at Konata while trying to brush the dirt that was stuck to her butt and keep her pants from falling down. She did not succeed and fell on the ground and got more dirt on her. Minami stood up and kept coming at her. Konata saw this and only laughed harder, when Minami got closer she saw that the front of her pants were now damp. This set Konata off laughing again.

She stumbled back away from Minami while still laughing. Minami grabbed her by the ear and pulled her back the other way where she had come from.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, what are you doing?" Konata yelped as Minami continued to drag her, she felt like a small child who had just done something wrong. Then she realized what Minami was doing, where she dragging her.

Minami grabbed Konata by the hair and shoved her face into the damp spot in the dirt. Konata screamed and tried to get away, Minami was too strong for her and she had her face smeared against the wet dirt. Konata looked up at Minami with dirt caked across her face.

"I told you not to turn around, I really am toilet shy." Minami reminded her. Konata was distracted too much from disgust and shock to react, still she knew that she had deserved it to some extent. They glared at each other with thick tension in the air, the tension was cut when Minami started laughing. She fell backwards and kept laughing while point at Konata.

"We're even now." Konata muttered. "No one makes any acts of revenge from now on, right?"

"Right." Minami stop laughing and said, she signaled Konata to follow her. They walked parallel to Old Olney for a little ways before approaching the fence. Sensing there were no Deathclaws in the immediate area they slipped into the town through one of the many holes in the fence. From the inside it looked just like the D.C. ruins just on a smaller scale. The smell of death was much more pungent here too.

"Hey Minami, I just had a thought." Konata said as they were walking down the ruined streets.

"I'm not going to like this am I?" Minami sighed.

"Serious question." Konata assured her. "Okay so you know how you only drink the blood of people to cure your hunger?"

"…Yes."

"Well suppose that a girl was on her…you know, 'time of the month', some like oh say…Yutaka. If you drank that blood would it…" Konata stopped after reading the unhappy look across Minami's face. All this did was make her miss Kagami, Kagami would have screamed at her and said something funny. All Minami did was give her scary looks and rub her face in piss.

They cautiously walked through the deserted street looking for a sewer access. Konata noticed an awful smell coming from a back alley, she carefully approached it to investigate the source of the odor. In the alley was hefty pile of gore and bones that had been left there to rot. Konata stumbled back and tried hard to not vomit _again_.

As she was backpedaling she felt the ground beneath her just disappear. She fell about ten feet onto a painful concrete landing. Looking up, she saw that she mad stepped on some metal trap door that was about the size of a car, a little larger though..

"Are you alright?" Minami asked and peered down into the pit.

"Just peachy." Konata muttered and sat up, on either side of her were two doors. "Hey I think I accidentally found where we're supposed to go!"

Minami gracefully hopped down next to her. She helped Konata up and opened the door that was to Konata's left. Indeed it led to the sewers, luck was on their side that day. Sort of.

The sewer tunnels were larger than Konata had expected, you should have driven a truck through them with room to spare. Their luck ran out as they realized they had stumbled into the lair of a very territorial creature. A Deathclaw slowly turned to greet them, Konata could have sworn it was smiling a black tooth grin.

She quickly readied her gauss rifle just as they thing leaping at them with its claws outstretched. The shot blasted it back onto the ground, its thick hide protected it a good deal though. As far as Konata knew it was the only thing to survive a shot from that gun, and at point blank no less. The monster twitched and struggled to get back to its feat, the 2mm round had taken a sizable chunk out of its midsection.

Minami calmly walked next to it and drove her katana through the thing's skull. It hitched once and reached towards her before dieing. "They won't all be this easy."

Konata said nothing and walked over the fallen monster. She glanced at it and remembered Kagami standing over one that night so very long ago. Blinking memories away, she pressed on.

The sewers were a maze, passage ways had been arbitrarily barred off. Konata couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not, at least it stopped them from getting too lost. They followed a passage that descended downward into the unknown and came across a three way intersection just as Deathclaw was rounding the corner. Konata took a shot at it, this time the blast didn't hinder it.

With godlike speed the monster lunged at her, Konata panicked and missed her second shot. Just as the four foot claws were about to impale her, Minami quickly stepped forward. With an arching swing she brought her katana up and cleanly sliced off the impending claw. The lack of hand and pain threw the Deathclaw off balance causing it to fly past Konata and crumple to the ground. The blunette contently blew its head off with a 2mm round with a fountain of blood.

To the right of them at the intersection, another Deathclaw emerged from around the corner. Before Konata could fire at it, Minami was already way ahead of her. The green haired girl sprinted forward to meet the monsters lunge. She narrowly avoided the massive claws with a quick duck and stabbed her blade through its head. Minami ducked lower as the thing tumbled over her into a painful landing. She calmly walked over and retrieved her sword from the fallen monster. Since it was still thrashing a bit, she slit the rest of its throat.

"Why did I even bother coming along if you're just going to kill everything alone?" Konata joked.

Minami wiped the blood off of _Vampire's Edge _against her leather duster and shrugged. "To feel useful I guess, I wouldn't know though. Vault Dweller psych is not my forte. Or to fulfill your creepy fetishes by watching a poor, innocent, shy girl try to go to the bathroom behind a tree."

"That's not nice." Konata muttered, not the answer she was looking for. She glanced around and noticed an alcove with a ladder in it. "Hey, where do you think this leads?" Minami stepped over towards her and examined it.

"Judging by how far we are underground I'd say this would take us to the basement level of the building above." Minami concluded. "As good as anywhere else to start looking."

Konata was first up the ladder, she pushed away the manhole cover and emerged at the top. She ended up behind a sandbag bunker with someone crouching behind it.

"And just who the fuck are you!?" A raspy voice demanded. By the flaky decaying skin and voice, Konata could tell it was a ghoul. In a way she was relieved to see a non feral one for once.

"Konata Izumi, wasteland adventurer." Konata replied and helped Minami up into this new area.

"That's not what I meant." The stranger growled.

"We're looking for the Old Olney power works. Don't ask questions." Minami told him calmly.

"Well it looks like it's your lucky day." He replied sarcastically. "You can find it just past these ruins. I should probably warn you about the Deathclaws that made their home there. There's _a lot _of them."

"Nothing we can't handle, right Minami?" Konata said confidently and walked past him and several of his companions.

"You know I don't actually enjoy killing right?" Minami replied. "If I had my way I would just have a nice peaceful Brahmin farm."

"Really?"

"No, I hate those ugly things. I don't even like their meat, or their blood for that matter. Doesn't have that coppery undertone I like so much."

They passed through a pretty elaborate set up created by the ghouls. They had a pool table and shelves of food, there was even a barbeque with a Brahmin steak cooling down on it. Judging by some of the overturned chairs, it looked like this place had been hastily abandoned. The two girls walked up a fight of stairs and through the upper level that overlooked the lounge below.

Minami's basement theory had been correct. At the far end of the upper level they came across solid concrete that looked like the foundation of another building. Part of it had been blasted away forming a makeshift tunnel into the adjacent building. As Konata approached it, a flayed body flew through the hole to her feet. Just from a quick inspection she could tell it had been a ghoul, even if only the upper part of his body had come through.

Konata looked through the tunnel, indeed had blown through the foundation of another building. It was only about six feet long and was covered in concrete rubble and metal support bars. On the other side was a very angry looking Deathclaw.

Since the hole was narrower than it, the Deathclaw had some trouble climbing through to meet its new prey. Konata smiled and jammed the end of her gauss rifle into its mouth and pulled the trigger. She was rewarded with a shower of blood, gore, and bone fragments. Somehow, Minami managed to stand in the direct trajectory of the spray of Deathclaw meat. Konata turned and saw her standing there tapping her foot. Her face was dotted with Deathclaw blood and part of its jawbone was stuck to her cheek. Konata smiled nervously and wiped the mess off of her face.

They passed into the room beyond the demolished foundation. It had a faded checkered floor that hinted that it may have once been an office building. Beyond the junk scattered about there wasn't really anything worth investigating. Since there was only one way out, the two girls passed through a rotting double door into a much more impressive room.

The building had been an office building before the apocalypse. Now the entire ten story building had been collapsed inward on itself leaving one massive room where many once stood. The lowest level had been completely destroyed and was now a solid level of debris. Konata and Minami were on a ledge over looking the entire thing, they were located midway above the bottom and below the top. Konata guessed they were on the ground level.

Overhead the roof had fallen in, it gave them a clear view of the pale yellow sky. They both heard the sound of helicopter blades and a few seconds later two Vertibirds flew across the sky.

"They're not coming for us are they?" Konata asked, and hopped onto another ledge suspended over the ground. The remaining parts of the floor formed a series of stepping stones leading to the other side. From where she was standing Konata could mentally map out a route that would take them to a door at the highest floor.

"I hope not." Minami replied and jumped next to her, the ledge shook for a moment then became stable. "That would mean they know where we are and where we're going. I personally get worried when the enemy has that kind of information available." She didn't say so but she knew it meant that there was a spy among them. First she thought Kagami could be the one who knew it was them. but that was stupid. Even if she had come across that information via someone like Tsukasa, she wouldn't send soldiers to kill them. First of all she didn't (shouldn't was more appropriate, but thinking about Kuroi…) have that kind of authority. Plus she would want to be with Konata again, not kill her. Still it was strange.

They took turns jumping across the various remaining parts of the floor. Eventually they came across the wall that had been on their left when they entered. This part of the building had caved in, and the fallen floors and ceilings made a slide that slid down all the way to the bottom at a sixty degree angle. After crossing the rest of the building they had ascended at least half way to the top. Now all that was left was climbing up this slide onto part of the topmost floor.

Konata scrambled up it effortlessly and climbed onto the highest ledge. She could see where they had entered on the opposite side of the room. The ledge was solid and at the far end of it, across from the massive cave in, was a doorway. If the ghoul they had met earlier was correct, then this way would take them to the Old Olney power works. Konata considered that a safe conclusion since there was no other clear path.

Minami climbed up next to her a second later, she brushed off the layer of dust off her coat, and emptied out her boots from dirt as well. "If I had one wish, it would be a world without dirt."

"Be careful what you wish for." Konata said wisely. "Because those stars you wish upon may just obliterate something. Like a giant battle robot for instance."

"Noted."

Their conversation was ended when they heard heavy foot steps in the direction of the doorway they were planning on heading into. Konata readied her weapon and aimed it at the door. She waited for several agonizing seconds, instead of a person, a tiny metal object rolled through.

"What the…?" Konata muttered and tried to figure what it was supposed to be. It almost looked like a grenade, although they were well out of range from any explosion.

"Down!" Minami commanded and practically threw herself on top of Konata. The two girls hit the ground with Minami on top of Konata. The taller girl put her forearm over Konata's eyes just as a blinding light flashed from the direction of the grenade.

It had failed to blind them, but the split second bang had left them partially deafened and disoriented.

"Weapons free, go in hot!" They heard a mechanically distorted voice bark. Two Enclave soldiers emerged from doorway with their weapons trained on the girls. Minami felt almost flattered that they sent a group of this caliber after them. One was a Hellfire soldier, marked by his bulkier armor and heavy incinerator. The other was just a shock trooper with enhanced power armor called "Tesla Armor" which literally crackled with electricity.

Minami was on her feet in a second, while Konata was still dazed and trying to get up. She grabbed her seldom used 10mm SMG and pointed it at the two armored soldiers. Honestly it was a bluff, she knew the 10mm bullets would do little to penetrate the thick metal power armor.

Konata managed to stand straight and added her own weapon to the standoff. Neither party moved, Konata was the first to speak. "Hey we're just simple adventurers, we mean you no harm." Minami flinched, she couldn't think of a stupider thing Konata could have said. Even a taunt would have been better, but calling them "adventurers?"

"Stand down citizen!" The Hellfire soldier barked at Konata. "Iwasaki, if you come quietly then we may let your companion live."

"It's me you want?" Minami asked and raised her eyebrow. "So what did I do this time?"

"Nothing recently, you've been laying pretty low." He answered surprisingly. "But now that Kuroi is gone, so are all the regulations she broke. You're wanted for the murder of Force Colonel Sunderland Atkinson."

To everyone's surprise Minami just laughed. Konata wasn't too surprised since that happened to be a common reaction to accusations from the girl. "That was six-seven years ago, I know you people have better things to do than come after me. Let me guess, your new little private contractor put you up to this didn't she?"

The two soldiers said nothing, but Minami knew she was right. "She did, huh? That's not surprising, not many people can stand being called out on their bullshit."

"Enough talking, come with us." The Hellfire soldier said adamantly and turned his head to the partner at his side. "Leave the other one, she doesn't pose a threat." _If only you knew… _Konata thought and couldn't help but smile.

Konata kept her smiled and fired the first shot. The 2mm round collided with the Shock troopers plasma rifle. The weapon detonated like a grenade blowing off both his arms and killing him instantly. The Hellfire trooper, whose armor was build for resisting heat, hardly flinched. His aim was thrown off though, the barrage of fire he unleashed went higher than he had meant it to. Instead of incinerating the two girls like he had planned, his shots went above them and exploded against the wall behind them.

Minami was hit by the back draft and her duster went up in flames. The blast threw her off the edge and she rolled gracelessly back down the slope they had climbed up. Konata went prone when he started firing, the only thing that went up in flames was her ahoge. Another popped up to replace its fallen brethren instantly.

Konata rolled on her back and grabbed a microfusion cell from her belt and reloaded the gauss rifle.

"Mikuru Beam activate!" She shouted and fired. The Hellfire trooper's head exploded in a flurry of blood and thunder. His lifeless body stood there for a split second before falling forward. Konata reloaded the gun again, something in her mind clicked. _Minami_!

She slid back down the slope to the bottommost floor. It ended in an area relatively free of debris, there was an open doorway right at the bottom. Minami had landed next to it, she was sitting against the wall clutching her left arm. Her leather duster was lying next to her in a smoldering heap. Under it she had been wearing a loose white tank top, after looking at her nearly flat chest Konata realized Minami could easily pass off as a guy.

"I liked that duster too." Minami said quietly in a strained voice. "I think it was Kuroi who helped me make it, it was when I had to infiltrate The Regulators. You know when I met her she wasn't that bad of a person. Someone you could go drinking with."

Konata examined her for a moment. "Is your arm okay?"

Minami shook her head. "No. I broke it on the fall down, my forearm."

The blunette opened her omnipresent messenger bag, which was bulging from everything in it at this point, and looked for the items she would need.

_Konata's inventory! 10mm pistol, six clips, four Vault-Tec limited edition bobble heads, Tsukasa's ribbon (Part one of two), bloody Deathclaw jawbone (Part one of three), a case of microfusion batteries (Fourteen), a box of shotgun shells (28), two 5.56 clips, fragmentation grenade, pulse grenade, six stimpaks, and a first aid kit._

She retrieved a stimpak and the first aid kit. Minami said nothing as Konata pricked her with one, the small girl looked around for a decent splint for the broken bone.

"So, what happened with that Colonel dude?" Konata asked as she searched through the debris for a suitable piece of wood.

"He purchased my mother as a slave and raped her. I cracked his skull with the butt of my rifle then chewed his throat out. I barely managed to get out alive." Minami replied plainly, like it was just ordinary conversation.

"Note to self…" Konata muttered and found a decent piece of wood. "…Don't piss you off." She lined the wood up with Minami's forearm and wrapped it in place with some gauze from the first aid kit. The wounded girl flinched a moment from the pain but stood up.

"Let's see where this way leads." Minami suggested and gestured towards the doorway next to them. Konata agreed and took point.

"Are you sure you want to go too with you injury?" Konata asked as they round the corner. It lead to stair hall that led up and down. Judging by their position, Konata placed this stairwell to lead to the ledge they had faced off against the Enclave. The stairs went down one more level and ended at a door.

"As long as I'm not at the receiving end of a fight I should be fine. In other words I'm just along for the ride at this point." Minami replied gravely. "No way for me to turn back either, looks like you're stuck with me."

"Don't worry, I'll protect to you to my dieing breath!" Konata said and puffed her chest out. Minami said nothing and just shook her head.

They descended the short flight of stairs and passed through the door. This led to an almost completely different area. It was a basement, the walls were rock and it looked almost like a mining area. It was a large chamber but was mostly obscured by a makeshift barricade of rocks, wood, junk, with several landmines thrown on top for good measure. It looked like whoever built it was trying to keep people in.

"I'll take care of this." Konata said confidently and stepped forward, she fished a frag grenade out of her bag and pulled the pin. Minami stepped back carefully as Konata lobbed it into the barricade. There was a earsplitting explosion as all the mines detonated. Dust fell from the ceiling and the entire foundation of the place shuttered, but in the end the path was clear.

The room went on for another twenty meters or so and split at the middle. It looked like both paths ended the same way, the middle part was just support. The place was littered with junk and prewar garbage. Konata thought there may have been something vaguely useful things laying around, but they didn't have to time to go nit picking for them.

Before Konata could even take five steps she saw that the noise had attracted something. A Deathclaw wandered in from a side room to investigate the explosion, it was knocked off its feet by a shot from Konata's trusty gauss rifle. Konata put it down for good as it was attempting to stand again. On either side of the split in the middle, two Deathclaws were coming to investigate the explosion and scent of blood.

"What do I do about two of them?" Konata asked nervously and stepped backwards. The reload time for her weapon would give the other a chance to flay her alive.

Minami stood directly behind her. "Just shoot, I'll help you reload." Konata felt Minami's hands go to her belt where she kept some of her microfusion cells handy. It was a rather uncomfortable position, Konata could feel the breath of a killer breathing down on top of her head. She almost wretched when she caught wind of Minami's breath, it quite literally smelled like death. Not death in a tradition rotting-meat sense, but a strange spice that made her think of mummified corpses under the wasteland sun.

Konata fired a shot that knocked the Deathclaw on the right-hand side on its back. Minami grabbed a microfusion cell and jammed it into the side of the gauss rifle in only about two seconds. Just as the second Deathclaw was in leaping distance, Konata fired and eradicated the topmost part of its head. Once again Minami reloaded the weapon instantly, Konata was able to finish the first one off just as quick.

After both the things were dead, Konata took the opportunity to look around the place. There wasn't anything extremely useful, a couple of boxes of ammunition for guns she didn't have was about it.

"Stop messing around and let's go!" Minami called and waved her good arm. She was standing at a metal door, the words "Old Olney Power Works" were engraved on it.

**ON VACATION…**

It turned out that Tsukasa and Miyuki got along very well with Yutaka. It was strange, the little girl was everything Konata wasn't. Tsukasa was excited to Inori again, she was the only sister she seemed to have left. Kagami had disappeared, and just over a week later Matsuri fell off the grid too. The youngest sister was determined to see that Inori didn't go anywhere.

Yui was kind in her hospitality and eagerly welcomed the three of them, she even went as far to give each of them a copy of her new book. Tsukasa read a bit of it when she had the time but only skimmed over the parts that detailed her radiation poisoning.

On the walk there Yutaka ate away most of the time by telling stories about how awesome her friend Minami-chan was. How she had killed a Deathclaw single handily, how she took on six Talon mercenaries alone. And how she was going to with Konata on her own quest, she was an all around great person. Tsukasa was honestly a little scared of Minami, especially after being yelled at about the Necronomicon incident. (**A/N, I just love that word- Necronomicon. I love that word and everything surrounding that book :3 I hope someone I know dies so I can resurrect them with it!**)

When Tsukasa met Inori, she was laying in bed with what seemed to be the flu. She was running a fever of 103, had a nasty cough, those among other things.

"Tsukasa, I didn't expect to see you today!" Inori sat up and said when she saw her younger sister walk up to the second floor of the Craterside Supply.

"How're you doing?" Tsukasa asked and sat next to her, Inori eyed her curiously. She certainly looked different without her ribbon, and she was wearing the nearly skin tight Enclave scientist outfit. Everyone told her that she should get rid of it, but Tsukasa was adamant about keeping it. It was comfortable and stylish, not to mention it served as a permanent reminder about trust.

"Not very well." Inori replied honestly, she leaned over and coughed into a metal bucket set aside for her. Her cough turned into retching which turned into her vomiting a little, she grimaced when she saw blood. Inori sat back up and took a drink of a bottle of water. "Tsukasa…Thanks for doing everything with the purifier, they're already packaging the water! So now I don't have to worry about irradiation when drinking."

"You're welcome." Tsukasa replied and eye smiled, she didn't know about the Brotherhood packaging the water. She picked up a bottle of water from the table next to Inori's bed (Which was actually Yui's). It had been labeled "Aqua Pura", a fitting name. Tsukasa ran a scan over it with her Pip-Boy to make sure there really was no radiation.

There certainly wasn't any radiation but there was something else. Some chemical called FEV, Tsukasa didn't remember that ever being added. She hoped that it wasn't anything dangerous, little did she know it was. She would later find out that it was the equivalent of drinking a poison that rotted you from the inside out.

"It's funny when you think about it…." Inori said softly and shook her head. "Just how we all ended up out here, I can't really tell if it's for the better."

"I really don't know either." Tsukasa shrugged, "Actually I guess it was a little better in the vault. I could still walk on both legs." Inori instantly regretted saying anything. She thought it was amazing that Tsukasa managed to accomplish so much with "Project Purity" or whatever, with such a major handicap. In the vault the handicap would have just been tedious and she could keep living without too much assistance. But out in the wastes, Tsukasa was now completely dependent on other people, that thought saddened Inori to some degree.

"So did they pay you at all for the work you did?" She asked, quickly changing the subject.

Tsukasa placed her finger on her chin and thought for a moment, "Not really, no."

"You don't think they were using you were they?" Inori asked worriedly. She didn't want anyone taking advantage of her baby sister's good nature. Especially since that would be the second time that had happened. _Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. _She thought cynically. Kagami would have agreed with her 100%. She also knew that Miyuki wouldn't be around to help her forever, Inori decided she would pitch in to help once she was better.

In Tsukasa's eyes it was strange seeing Miyuki and Inori on the outside. In way it was almost better when it was just her and Kagami with Konata. It felt like they were on a sojourn through hell with a home to return to afterwards. Now there was no home to return to, there was only the wastes.

**BEGINNING OF THE END**

Kagami stared herself down in the mirror of the ladies restroom on the third floor of the crawler. Tomorrow would be the day that she dropped the remaining two payloads, it was surreal thinking this would be her last day alive. She smiled softly and a tear rolled down her face.

"No turning back." She whispered to herself. "You can do this, your sacrifice will save an untold amount of lives." _But will HER sacrifice save anyone? _Kagami flinched at that creepily clear voice that hissed in her mind. Honestly Kagami didn't know if having Matsuri with her changed anything. Everything Matsuri was doing, Kagami could have easily done alone. Tomorrow Matsuri would die along with her.

As if on cue, her old sister stepped into the large bathroom. "There you are, I was looking all over for you!" She said and walked next to her.

"Hey, what's up?" Kagami nearly whispered, it was hard to look her sister in the eye so she avoid eye contact. She kept her head down and stared at her booted feet.

"I was just thinking, I wanted to get your opinion on some things." Matsuri replied.

"Sure…anything."

"I was thinking about these Enclave guys. At first I thought they were like the stereotypical evil government guys. Like the Umbrella Corporation you know? Then I started thinking that most of these people are my age, just people plucked out of the wastes and thrown into this. Not all of these guys are bad people I think, it was just that Colonel you snuffed that messed this whole thing up."

"Precisely why I'm helping them." Kagami said after a few seconds of silence. _But that's only partially true. They're still a pretty damn evil organization, every faction with power armor is._

"I think the Brotherhood of Steel is hounding the Enclave is pretty cold." Matsuri mused, "It's making them look like the bad guys at this point. Not to mention what they made Izumi do."

"Precisely why with a push of a button I'm going to erase them from existence." Kagami said, she was glad Matsuri could see it the same way she did. _Best not to tell her about how I plan to blow this place up as well._

"Well, I can see you're not much for talking right now…" Matsuri realized and turned to walk away. "Just wanted to say that I think you're doing sort of a noble thing."

Kagami looked at her reflection and thought about everything some more. _They won't realize it now but I'm a hero. I'm the one who stops these warring children from destroying humanity with their toys. Neither of them are responsible enough to handle this technology they managed to get their hands on. Essentially it's the equivalent of giving cavemen guns. Humanity will eventually rise to power again but using this dangerous technology right away is not the way to go. I doubt anyone will realize this for years, but I really am doing the world a favor. I AM a hero._

_Not to mention the whole thing with FEV. With that humanity will be safe from Mutant creatures and feral ghouls. I really am a hero aren't I?_

**AT THE END OF THE MAZE…**

Konata was overjoyed when she walked into the cylindrical room with the glowing blue ball in the middle. Her and Minami had gone through one hell of a time going through the Old Olney power works. When they entered, the security systems went berserk and dozens of robots went after them. After playing cat and mouse for what seemed like hours until they finally found the room they were looking for.

Minami stayed in the room behind the cylindrical one to investigate some of the energy weaponry just lying around. Konata didn't really know how to deal with the glowing blue ball hovering over an electronic pedestal. It reminded her of those novelty plastic globes that lighted up with fake electricity when you touched them, except now it was like she was inside of one. She cautiously reached out to grab the sphere, whose diameter was about a foot long, and quickly grasped it with both hands. She shuttered as a painful shock shot through out her entire body.

The shock wasn't harmful, it just was painful. She shoved the Tesla Coil into the remaining space of her bag and walked into the room Minami was in. _Great…now everything I touch gives me an electric shock!_

Minami took one look at her and laughed quietly. Konata realized that the shock had caused her hair to poof up on all sides. She didn't need a mirror to know just how ridiculous it must have looked.

"What's that you got there?" Konata asked and looked at the weapon Minami was fiddling with. It looked like an alien gun out of a cheap 50's alien movie.

"No idea." Minami replied blankly and slid a glowing blue rod into the side of it. "Never seen a weapon like this before, I'll take it and see if it's worth anything." They began the long journey out of the Power Works, through several buildings, through the sewers, down the streets of Old Olney and back to the Citadel.

The two of them received a round applause when they entered the Citadel, Scribe Rothschild nearly sprinted to them when they arrived.

"Well, did you get it?" He asked impatiently.

"Right here dude." Konata said and handed him her bag.

"Great, I'll go get the Tesla Cannon ready. Talk to Minoru, we've had some new developments." Rothschild told them, he was nearly out of breath. He walked off towards the lab with the new Tesla Coil.

"New developments?" Konata said to Minami. "What do you think that means?"

"It means something came up and we're all about to be screwed." Minami replied, that was generally what it meant when she was in the Enclave.

They found Minoru in the conference room. "There you two are, we have some extremely urgent news."

"Does it involve Kagami?" Konata asked excitedly.

"Probably not, no." He replied sounding a little irritated, he was sure that girl was dead anyways. "Moving on now…An Enclave defector brought us some extremely urgent news. The Crawler which we found the coordinates to is planning on leaving midday tomorrow. But apparently their new private contractor plans to bomb the Citadel from orbit like they did with Liberty Prime."

Konata frowned and struggled to form words. "That's…that's really, really bad isn't it?"

"Yes, yes it is." He told her gravely. "We do have a plan but it's going to have to involve a large effort on your part."

"Figures…" Minami muttered. _A lot less time than I had hoped. No time to say any farewells, I don't want to do this but Kagami is about to lay waste to the Capital Wastelands. At this point I'm probably the only one who can put a stop to this, Konata is definitely a good asset but she wouldn't be able to kill Hiiragi. Yutaka, my Family, Mother, if I don't make it back… No, I'll make it back, I always make it back._

"So let me guess…" Konata said and stroked her chin. "You're launching an epic assault that we have to take part in…but that's actually a diversion. Minami and I will sneak in through the back and kill everyone in the Crawler, right?"

"H-how did you know that was the plan?" Minoru asked, obviously startled by Konata's blind guess.

"Just a guess." Konata shrugged. _So tomorrow I do my daring rescue of Kagami from the hands of the evil Enclave. That doesn't leave much time for sleeping, or other important things like sandwich eating and dancing. Besides, how hard can infiltrating a massive mobile military base be? I mean Solid Snake did that whole Shadow Moses thing alone, and all he had was a pistol and a FA-MAS. I got a gauss rifle, a Tesla Cannon, and Minami, the odds are on my side. Plus Minami's so good that she counts as two things, so that leaves me with four things instead of Snake's two. Plus I don't have to fight any cyborg ninjas or giant bipedal tanks. Let's. Do. This._


	25. The End Justifies The Means

**FALLING STARS FINAL CHAPTER- THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS**

"_A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,_

_And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,_

_And the dry stone no sound of water. Only_

_There is shadow under this red rock,_

_(Come in under the shadow of this red rock), _

_And I will show you something different from either_

_Your shadow in the morning striding behind you_

_Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;_

_I will show you fear in a handful of dust" _-T.S. Eliot, "_The Waste Land_"

"_And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been. We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been." _-Tool, "_Lateralus_"

Dark clouds formed over the Capital Wastelands. Not rain clouds but clouds of ash from fires that burned centuries ago.

After receiving news that the Enclave was planning to mobilize, Konata and Minami had hardly time to breathe before leaving out again. The plan was a bit elaborate- The Brotherhood of Steel would charge in forward with all available troops to try and hold the Enclave off and keep them distracted. Konata and Minami would go through the Presidential Metro on Pennsylvania Avenue and take an emergency train from under the White House to Adams Airforce Base where the Crawler was at. Using a Vertibird, the Brotherhood would drop in a package containing the Tesla Cannon. Using that, Konata and Minami would hack their way though the base and into the Crawler to neutralize it. How? That wasn't exactly explained. Konata assumed it was just "Blow Shit Up", that was fine. She was good at that.

"Izumi, have you ever heard the term _Suicide Mission_?" Minami asked as they were preparing to hike through the ruins to the Presidential Metro.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"This fit's the description perfectly. Consider what's expected of us." She explained.

"So it's a bit of a stretch, nothing we can't handle though. How's your arm?" Konata asked.

"Serviceable."

"Do _you _think we'll make it."

Minami thought about that for a moment. "Not to the end, no. If we can make it to stop that PC that's working those orbital strikes then I can die happy."

"What about Yutaka?" Konata asked carefully.

"What about her?" Minami nearly hissed.

"Do you want to go to Megaton and say goodbye incase something happens?" Konata told her.

Minami shook her head and kept walking. "No, it would make it harder on her if we do fail."

"I don't think we're going to fail." Konata said quietly. "I this'll sound cheesy but I really do think love will conquer anything. It practically brought me back from the dead. You probably know this but I really do love Kagami."

"Then hope she's alive and the same person she was before." Minami replied blankly. _A cute little ideology you have there. Think about this though- My father loved my mother enough to venture out into the wastes to do anything to make a better life for us. He was dragged off into the night at the Dunwich Building by boogeymen. Trust me, love is not enough."_

They didn't make much more conversation as they trekked onwards through the ruins. A path was cleared for them ahead of time to avoid raider and Super Mutant interference to speed their journey. Within the hour they were at a manhole marked by two initiates.

"Right down here." One of them said and pointed at the open manhole. "Bear left and you'll find the Presidential Metro. Keep your weapons ready since we heard ghouls down there." Konata heard the first part of his conversation, but had wondered off.

She walked over to a metal fence and looked over at the crumbling burnt ruins of some mansion. It looked like someone had bombed the hell out of it; without nuclear arms. Konata vaulted over the fence and slid into the crater that was most of the building, she landed in the remains of some basement. The concrete steps that lead to the ground floor were still standing, useless now.

"Stop playing around!" Minami called from behind the fence. Konata ignored and climbed up the concrete stairs. The only part of the ground floor was a ten foot section with a bit of a wall left. Leaning against the wall was a skeleton groping a missile launcher. Minami called her again so she leapt down and climbed back onto the street.

"Sorry 'bout that." Konata huffed. "Just _in case_ anything goes wrong, I wanted to visit the White House first."

"Why?" Minami asked as they were walking back to the manhole.

"I guess technically I'm American since I was born here. So it's part of my history sort of." Konata shrugged, plus it was just cool to stand there.

"Keep in mind that was where fat greedy men pushed the buttons that ended the world. The only history left from there is the hell we live in." Minami said cynically and climbed down into the sewers.

Konata followed her and couldn't help but think about what she had just said. _Makes me wonder what it would be like if I had lived before the bombs were dropped. Considering my heritage, I'd probably live in Japan. I wonder if my friends would be there too? We'd probably go to the same school and do normal school stuff, and life would be a lot less bloody and messy. Then maybe Kagami and I could live together in a world where we didn't have to worry about dying. Would I still love her though? I mean honestly my feelings came out from the events in the wastes. I guess I can't really know since there are too many variables. For all I know we would come together through a stupid game like Truth or Dare._

Like the initiate had said, the entrance to the Presidential Metro was easily found just by bearing left. The two girls passed through a maintenance tunnel that lead to the Presidential Metro itself. The original passage to it had been buried with the White House, so they had to settle with this back route.

The bunkered subway had done wonders surviving the apocalypse. Konata could actually clearly see the white linoleum floor; that was unheard of the wastes.

"_Warning, unidentified hostiles detected. All non-combatants stand aside while the threat is neutralized_". A robotic female voice over an intercom told them. Konata readied her gauss rifle while Minami drew her blade; the voice was mostly likely referring to them. To their surprise, several Sentrybots rolled by them without a thought.

Down the subway, at a three way intersection, they could hear energy weapon fire and growling and hissing.

"Ghouls." Minami said and began walking in the direction. "Let's get going, maybe we can avoid the fight."

"It's cool that they're not trying to kill us for a change." Konata said cheerfully and matched Minami's quick pace. At the intersection, ghouls were throwing themselves against robots and sentry guns without any sense of self-preservation. The two girls kept following the path straight, the train that would take them to Adams Airforce Base had to be somewhere close by.

Just as the next part of the station was nearing, three ghouls sprinted towards them, growling and hissing the whole way. Konata fired off a 2mm round at one and sent it flying back, still in one piece. _Tough little guy, _She thought and reloaded.

Minami met their charge and brought _Vampire's Edge _down in an overhead cleave at one of the charging ones. The other sprinted towards Konata, the one Minami had stricken stumbled around aimlessly with her sword halfway through its head.

Konata gunned down the one charging her, it fell back as the one she had shot first was getting up. She also noticed that the one Minami had cleaved was still trying to grab at her.

"Hey, what's with these guys? They're not dying like ghouls are supposed to." Konata asked and shot down the first ghoul again.

"Reavers!" Minami shouted back and retrieved her blade from her opponents head. The ghoul was still thrashing at her, but the trauma to the head was definitely taking its toll. Minami swiftly decapitated it with a single swing.

"Reavers?" The blunette asked and slammed the butt of her gun down on the skull of the ghoul in front of her. Strangely, her blow met resistance. This was getting ridiculous so she reloaded and settled for shooting it at point blank. That kept it down for good.

Minami hacked down the third one and wiped irradiated blood off her burnt duster. "Reavers. They're prewar ghouls who've been around so long that they've mutated into these monsters. They're notoriously hard to kill, if it weren't for that weapon of yours you'd be dead."

Konata remembered a nightmare she had a longtime ago about Kagami being killed by just one of these. Here she was having just taken down three. "Hmm, I've killed these guys and Deathclaws. And I hear stories about how hard both of them are supposed to be."

"Your point?" Minami asked and climbed onto the train platform after the ghouls.

"Does that mean we're really good or the rumors are over exaggerated?" Konata asked and hefted herself up next to Minami. A slim, presidential looking, train was stationed on the rails. The two of them moved into investigate it.

"Both." Minami said, answering her question. "I know the best way to kill any target, and the stories are spread by wastelanders who have almost no combat experience." She sighed in frustration when she saw that the train had no power. The rest of the place was working fine on its fusion generators, just not the train.

"Let's go look for a way to power the rails." Konata suggested. "I'm not an engineer but if we push enough buttons something's bound to work right."

Minami shook her head but kept silent. Surprisingly it only took them a few minutes to find a circuit box with everything turned off.

"I'm amazed." Konata said and flicked every switch on. "No crazy side quest or boss fight. It's actually simple for once, I guess this a compromise for what comes next."

"Let's hope not." Minami muttered. Light overhead flickered on and the drone of machinery became abundant. In spaces that were shadows previously, ragged skeletal figures stood up clumsily. They hissed and growled at the light and turned to the two intruders.

"Are the rails working?" Konata asked and readied her weapon.

"Let's hope so." Minami replied and grabbed Konatas arm and pulled her along back to the train. More ghouls were starting to appear from alcoves and crevices, another group ran down a flight of stairs just out of view.

Minami practically threw Konata into the conductor spot of the train and hopped in after her. Ghouls were sprinting at them with hunger in their eyes in hordes now. Yellow lights were lit up down the subway tunnel, so Minami assumed the power was working on the rails. She started pressing buttons at random on the control panel of the train.

Konata slid the door close just as one irradiated fellow was about to climb in after them. "Any luck?"

"Not yet…" Minami muttered and continued pressing buttons one by one. Eventually the train lurched then began moving forward slowly. Above them the text "Destination: Adams Airforce Base" appeared in glowing yellow letters on a panel on the ceiling. The train started off moving quickly, but after a few minutes started lumbering along at a much slower speed.

"How long do you think it'll take to get there?" Konata asked, they lumbered past ghouls fighting security robots.

"At this rate…" Minami began than thought for a moment; they had passed the fighting now. "…Probably hours, it's midnight right now so we should be there before the sun rises."

Konata sat down against the wall of the small compartment they were in. She briefly considered sleeping the commute there, she hadn't really gotten any time to rest since the morning. "So Minami… Tell me about the Enclave."

"What about them?" She replied blankly and sat down next to Konata.

"I just don't know anything about them." Konata told her, she started fiddling with her weapon. The ghoul she had hit left a dent in the butt of it; it was shaped like a jawbone. "I know a bit about the Brotherhood of Steel, but I don't know a single thing about the Enclave. You rolled with them for a little while so I thought you might know a little about it."

"There's really not much to say about them. It's the people not the organization that are the problem." Minami replied without hesitation. "Believe it or not, they used to be a lot worse than they are now."

"Was that when you and Kuroi were together?" Konata asked.

Minami shook her head. "No it wasn't, it was about a decade and a half before I joined. They had a lot more power before they had their forces set up here, they were also a lot more tyrannical about it. Before they would usually shoot wastelanders on sight and raze settlements without any remorse."

"What changed?"

"Hmm, hard to say really. It was when they had their Oilrig base destroyed some twenty-five, thirty years ago. Since so many of them died they had to broaden their recruitment standards, so a lot more people from the wastes joined. Their president had been killed so they were in complete dismay and chaos, I think it was their pride that was damaged the most."

"That made them nicer?"

"Not really nicer, just less brutal. I guess they learned to pick their battles, especially after losing so much almost overnight. I only skimmed the report on it, but I can understand why it would really bruise their ego."

"What happened?"

"The Oilrig and president were taken out by a tribal. Some girl barely older than you too, the story is pretty amazing. She came from some extremely primitive tribal village, they sent her out to find a GECK to help with their quickly declining food supplies. The goal was to use it to grow more food or something, it's not important. Anyways, this girl travels up the coast of California and ends up finally finding a GECK. She comes back to the village just to find that the Enclave burned it down and hauled nearly everyone off."

"She did it for revenge I take it?"

"And to rescue her family." Minami nodded, "She managed to get this old oil tanker to work and drove it right up to them. The moral of the story was clear to the Enclave- _Watch out which locals you piss off_. After that they didn't involve themselves in the affairs of anyone outside of the Enclave unless it was necessary. They sort of tried to become the new government of the United States of America and make themselves seem less evil. Like when we stopped The Teeth from taking over."

"Kuroi kind of messed that up, didn't she?" Konata smirked.

"Her and everyone who didn't bother to question her. I really want to know what in her snapped, she used to be a somewhat decent human being. When you look back on it, there were so many different viable alternatives to dealing with Project Purity. Instead she chose 'Kill and enslave everyone'. And look what happened, another tribal ruined it for them again."

"Another tribal?" Konata repeated.

"Yes, your mother was from a tribal village right? Yutaka's parent, your mother's sister, was too." Minami explained.

"I guess that technically makes me one huh? Here I was being called a Vault Dweller this whole time." Konata said dreamily.

"I'm probably wrong though. I think that sort of thing is based on lifestyle, not blood." The kensei thought out loud. "Especially since some tribals are into some really weird stuff. Like believing that cutting out part of your brain expands your mind."

Konata had a brief flash of déjà vu, like she had heard someone talk about that before. Her mind conjured an image of Tsukasa, but she knew that couldn't be right. _Besides where would Tsukasa have gone to get part of her brain cut off? Time to take a rest girl, you're tired. _Konata listened to that trusty mental voice and dozed off while leaning against Minami's shoulder. Minami, who was used to long periods of time without sleeping, took this opportunity to draft a plan.

She needed a plan for when she confronted Kagami. Although she had proven herself useful, that girl was a complete menace to society. Minami knew that this woman needed to be put down for good. But if Konata was with her then things would probably not go so well. Minami figured she could kill Kagami then at least subdue Konata, she didn't want to hurt the blunette; but if push came to shove.

In the meantime Konata dreamt of another world. A world where no bombs had fallen, where she and her friends attended a normal school with a normal life. She dreamt of just the silly little things they would do- Like maybe a school sports festival, she pictured Kagami face planting in the long jump. Or maybe doing something like a big cheerleading routine for a cultural festival, although she wasn't sure how good at that she would be at it. But in the end they all still had fun, and everyone was alive.

Minami, on the other hand, was not enjoying the trip one bit. Konata had fallen asleep leaning against her and her smell was radiating off her in bittersweet waves. It had been two days since she had last fed, the hunger was starting to rise again and manifest itself. This was not the kind of place that Minami needed to lose herself, killing Konata on accident would not strengthen her leadership position in The Family. She went through her coat pockets and found her shattered knife, and a syringe with Med-X in it.

She took a deep breath and looked at Konata's sleeping face, so at ease and innocent. Minami found a scabbed wound where shrapnel from Liberty's explosion had cut Konata. She took a deep breath and began her bloody work on the sleeping girl. Sadly, Konata would awake none the wiser.

**AT THE EDGE OF A CLIFF…**

Kagami hadn't gotten any sleep the previous night, how could she have? Tomorrow was going to be the day that she would bring down the sky on top of herself and those power armored bastards. Every last one of them. As morning came she found herself finally dozing off, that was when chaos ensued.

"Hiiragi!" A gruff looking officer barked. Kagami sleepily glanced up from the computer terminal she had dozed off on top of.

"Change of plans, our exodus has been temporarily delayed." He informed her. "The Brotherhood of Steel just launched began an assault on the Crawler. They're currently not gaining much ground but we don't want to take any chances."

"…And you want me to send them to hell if they get too close." Kagami finished. "Yeah, my pleasure really. I can get turrets firing on everyone without the right IFF tag and more."

"Good." The unnamed officer said darkly. "Get it done." Like many others, he didn't trust Kagami or her motives. You didn't just defect and start gleefully killing for the other side out of nowhere like that. Especially when that side had done some personal damages to you. Something wasn't right about any of this.

Kagami got straight to work as soon as the officer left. She turned on all twenty-four turrets on and began to look over anything else that would raise hell. One particular thing caught the tsundere's eye, _Deathclaw Cage Functions_. Kagami looked over it and read the memo associated with it.

_To all faculty this may concern- The Deathclaw programs initiated by the late General Nanako Kuroi have been suspended indefinitely. The subjects are being kept in force field containers in Adams Airforce Base until further notice. General Kuroi's plans to domesticate them ended in disaster and the beasts are far from docile. Total liquidation recommended. Warning- Releasing the pens will also release the ones held in the Mobile Base Crawler. Standard safety protocol recommended when dealing with hostile creatures._

She smiled delicately and tapped enter while highlighting the "Cage Release" button.

"You know something Matsuri?" She smiled a macabre grin.

"Huh?" Matsuri said and turned around on her wheeled chair. She had been reading a book and had no idea what Kagami was up to.

"I love Deathclaws, they're kill everyone without distinction."

"Good to know?" Matsuri replied and went back to her book; she wanted to know if Roland ever made it to the Dark Tower. Kagami couldn't help but imagine the possibilities of sixteen Deathclaws running loose around the battlefield slaughtering without prejudice.

Her fingers briefly considered dropping the bombs then and there, but she knew the satellites wouldn't be arranged correctly for another few hours. She hadn't picked that date for her grand explosion at random. It also turned out that the Enclave had once uploaded the satellite coordinate to bomb Megaton and Rivet City. This caused Kagami a bit of confusion, _Why did they make me do this when someone has already gone through here and left traces of their knowledge. Perhaps that person died or something and no one else knew how to use it. Strange indeed._

**BEFORE THE SKY FALLS…**

"Wake up."

"Five more minutes…"

"Wake up. Now." That cold demanding voice caused Konata to bolt up instantly. Her neck ached from sleeping at an odd angle, and her arm was strangely numb. She looked around, judging by the small subway station Konata assumed they were at the end of their trek.

"What time is it?" She asked and stumbled onto the pavement outside the train.

"Just after six." Minami replied. "The train stopped several times and it was hard to get it running again."

"Let's get going then!" Konata said and jogged up a flight of stairs that led to the surface. She passed through an ancient metal gate and into the sunlight. Although she wasn't sure what to expect, Adams Airforce Base was a lot different than what she had imagined. Instead of runways and hangers, there were tall stout buildings that gave it a cityscape look. With the roads paved between the buildings, the base looked like a remarkably well preserved city instead of a military complex.

"Place hasn't changed a bit." Minami said and crossed her arms.

Konata was about to say something about the lack of Tesla Cannon when her Pip-Boy announced that it had picked up a new radio signal. She looked at it and couldn't help but smile, it said- "_Izumi's ears only_".

The broadcast itself was only static, but when Konata moved it either got louder or quieter. It was essentially a game of Hot And Cold. Konata was expecting her new Tesla Cannon to end up being on the roof of one of the buildings or in the middle of a dozen Enclave soldiers…but it was actually in a box leaning against a fence about thirty feet away.

Konata eagerly shoved the parachute out of the way and opened the wooden crate. Inside was a remote HAM radio broadcasting the signal that had led her there; next to it was a massive weapon with a box of electromagnetic cell batteries along with it.

The Tesla Cannon was almost larger that Konata was. It was built with parts from a missile launcher and several other energy weapons. It had the same basic layout of a Fatman missile launcher, except the part that held the mini-nuke was replaced with a glass chamber. Inside electricity pulsed , weave, and waved, forming endless blue patterns. Konata used the strap on it to sling it over her shoulder like she did with the gauss rifle. The box of EC batteries also had a strap so she tossed that over her shoulder.

"Need any help?" Minami asked when saw that the blunette was carrying nearly sixty pounds of gear.

"Yeah…" Konata huffed and put the Tesla Cannon and EC batteries down. "You wanna use this while we're here? The Brotherhood didn't take my size into account when they made this thing."

Minami nodded and hefted up the Tesla Cannon and EC batteries. "The villagers seldom consider whether their sacrificial lamb is comfortable before being fed to the wolves."

Konata glared at her menacingly. "I'm not doing this for them, I'm not their war pig! I told you I'm doing this for a friend!" She shouted. It was surprising that no Enclave soldiers heard her. _Come to think of it, this place is like a ghost town. _Just as she was thinking that, two Vertibirds flew slowly above them.

"Excuse me while I ignore your nonstop whining and bitching for a moment and do what we came here to do." Minami said coldly and hefted the Tesla Cannon to her shoulder. She aimed it towards one of the Vertibirds as best as she could and clamped down on the firing mechanism. A bolt of blue lightning shot forward in a perfectly solid line and gave off no recoil. One moment the aerial vehicle was there, the next moment a fireball was in its place. It didn't just damage or cripple it, the blast destroyed it out right.

Konata walked past her to see if she could peer around one of the massive buildings to view the wreckage. She walked past Minami and heard the sound of machinery humming. Some primal part of her brain flashed a mental warning sign, causing her to jump backwards. The ground where she had just been exploded from gunfire, she glanced up and saw four turrets on every single roof top. She had managed to waltz into ones line of fire.

"How do we get past those?" Konata asked and grabbed her gauss rifle. However, there wasn't any spot for her to stand where she could aim without being shot back.

Minami said nothing and yanked the gauss rifle out of Konata's hands. She walked carelessly into the turrets line of fire and stood there while aiming. For some reason the guns didn't fire at her, or react in anyway. The green haired girl fired once and obliterated one turret, the recoil caused her to nearly drop the weapon. How Konata, who was a full one foot, five inches shorter and forty pounds lighter, managed to fire that thing without breaking her shoulder was beyond Minami. She reloaded the gun are shot down another one, then another, then a few more. Finally she glanced around then motioned Konata to follow her.

"Okay, what gives?" Konata asked as she reluctantly stepped out into the open street.

"Hmm?"

"Why don't they shoot at you?"

Minami unzipped part of her burnt leather duster and exposed her neck. She was wearing a metal collar that looked battered with a hint of rust. "Enclave IFF transponder, we call got these and I kept mine. It stands for _Identify Friend or Foe _and it pretty much tells the automated guns to not shoot at us. Mine's an older model, I heard that the newer recruits get microchips."

"I want one…" Konata muttered and dragged behind the kensei as they moved from building to building. Before long they heard gunshots in the distance, both material and energy. "Ooh, sounds like the Brotherhood of Steel is causing a diversion for us."

"They're not doing a very good job." Minami noted and pointed towards a few Enclave soldier pointing back at them. She tossed Konata her gun back, "Take them out, you're a better shot than I am with that thing."

Konata nodded and raised the gauss rifle to her shoulder. With one shot she managed to down both of them, she didn't know if they were dead but that didn't really seem to matter. They were out of the way and that was it. The two girls pressed on through the shadows of the buildings of Adams Airforce Base.

"More turrets." Minami said and pointed to several guns encampments at the corner of several buildings roofs. Konata traded the gauss rifle for the Tesla Cannon, there were several grounded Vertibirds that she wanted to take care of.

Luckily the Tesla Cannon had no recoil so using it was a cinch. Konata destroyed each of the grounded vehicles and one that was about to land near them. Minami dispatched the turrets like she been doing the whole time. Now that the turrets were gone, they emerged out into the open.

What Konata saw took her breath away. A massive building that was complete with landing pads, satellites, and all sorts of other militaristic features; and it was on treads.

"That thing is a fortress." Minami told her and kept on walking, Konata noticed that nothing ever seemed to make her stop. "I don't remember all the details but I think they're should be a ramp right there…" She pointed at a spot between two massive treads, "…and it's up. If I remember right there's a way to open it from the outside from right there." She pointed at a tall rectangular building at the edge of the airbase, the Crawler was at least hundred feet away from the airbase itself. Also there was a battle going on right on the stretch of land. Konata couldn't really make out the combatants, but could see the red lines of energy weapons zapping back and forth.

"So all we have to do is go up there and push a little button?" Konata asked, "Then after that we somehow find a way to sabotage The Crawler from the inside, while looking for Kagami?"

"Correct."

"No problem."

They didn't know how long the Brotherhood of Steel could keep the Enclave occupied, so they were jogged to that building as quickly as they could. "Run and gun" was the term that popped into Konata's mind; since every few seconds she'd have to take a shot at someone with her gauss rifle. Judging by the lack of resistance, it looked like the Enclave didn't really see those two girls as a threat.

Konata glanced into an open hanger to her left, it was the building before the one they were trying to get to. It looked like they had been using to keep Deathclaws imprisoned for whatever reason. In the chaos the Deathclaws managed to get loose and were now happily slaughtered their captors. Just from where she was standing, Konata could see at least ten. She hoped they would stay in that hanger.

"Run." Minami said, her voice startled Konata who was distracted by the Deathclaws.

"Huh?" She said stupidly and looked back towards their destination. The Enclave had a pretty elaborate barricade built. They were facing the other way but it wouldn't take much for the dozen or so soldiers behind metal barriers to just turn around and rain hell on them. So she followed Minami's command and went into a full blown sprint towards the building. While she ran she kept her body as low as she could to make herself a smaller target or possibly not been seen. But she realized that wasn't going to work since she had several feet of blue hair flowing behind her.

The two of them ran up a metal ramp and quickly slipped inside unnoticed. Konata closed the door and looked around. The outside of the buildings looked preserved, but the insides were just as decrepit as any other in the wastelands. Dusty air, poor lighting, piles of brick and rubble.

"I just wanted to say that I'm having a lot of fun." Konata said and smiled her cat grin, it was the first time in awhile she had done that. "Like running all close to the ground just now. It's like we're real soldiers."

Minami sighed and shook her head. "I'll guard our exit or something…you just go upstairs and open that ramp." She drew her katana and leaned against the wall.

"Right, gotcha." Konata replied quickly and ran up a flight of stairs that was directly in front of them. They went straight up to a command tower on top of the roof. Konata entered it and got a good look at the Crawler. She could see a huge landing pad with several Vertibirds on it, there was also a smaller one on top of some sort of command tower that was just a larger version of the one she was in. Konata shook her head and reminded herself that there would be time for sightseeing later. She found a computer terminal and entered the "Lower Ramp" command.

When she got back downstairs she saw Minami wiping blood off her weapon with a white rag. Several power armored bodies were strewn across the ground. "Did you lower the ramp?"

"You know it. We're almost done with this." Konata answered and sat down against the wall; she was completely out of breath after all that running and climbing up steep stairs. "So Minami, what are you going to do after all of this?"

"Start a Brahmin farm." She replied with a smile.

"You really are masochistic aren't you?"

Minami chuckled at that. "No, I'm just going to go home and pretend none of this ever happened. Way to many Deathclaws and suits of power armor for my liking."

"Well, I'm glad you came along. I wouldn't have been able to get this far at all without your help." Konata began, she was going to say more but Minami cut her off.

"Please don't give that speech. It's bad luck."

"Right. Anyways lets go and finish this." Konata said and stood up, she hoped that the speech hadn't had jinxed them. They walked back outside, Konata instantly realized they were going to have to plow through the twelve Enclave soldiers behind metal barriers. Even if they were going in from behind, it was still going to be difficult to fight a force that outnumbered you 6:1.

"How do we do this?" The blunette asked and tried to think of ways to get past this. Minami looked around for an answer as well.

"Run for it." Minami said. "Look over there, the Deathclaws are coming for some more revenge. They're provide an excellent diversion."

Sure enough fifteen or so spiny reptilian monsters were emerging from the hanger. One of the Enclave soldiers realized this and alerted the others. Konata took that as a sign and sprinted down the ramp in the same low posture she had done before. Minami was fast behind her, the two of the ran unintentionally ran at almost the exact same speed. Konata was sure that she could have beaten her in a race if it came to that.

They ran past the barricade, the Enclave gave them confused looks but none of them were sure if they were supposed to shoot or not. They were too preoccupied on the force of irradiated demons quickly closing in on them.

Bullets and superheated lasers whipped past Konata as she ran across the battle field behind the Enclave. Several bullets pinged off her armor but she managed to make it to the Crawler unharmed, she climbed midway up the ramp then went prone. Minami joined her so they were juxtaposed.

"Oh man, those Deathclaws are going to kill everyone." Konata said grimly. They had killed every Enclave soldier at that barricade in less than a minute and were now moving into the main battlefield.

"Not our problem." Minami said and stood up.

"It is our problem." Konata snapped back. "The Brotherhood is supposed to clear us a way out. If we come back and everyone's dead then we're kind of stuck here."

"…and the train barely made it here." Minami added, she realized that Konata had a point. "There's no way it could make a return trip. Okay, I know what to do."

**BITTER REALIZATION**

"What are you doing?" Matsuri asked her sister who had randomly gotten up and sat down at one of the computer terminals. She had done it in an almost robotic trance. Kagami ignored her and typed something in, Matsuri read it and felt her stomach do a flip.

"Did you just enter coordinates to drop another orbital strike?" She asked nervously, she didn't know what the "The Citadel" was but it probably didn't have anything to do with what was going on outside. The two of them had received multiple threats about what would happen if they didn't do their job correctly. Randomly dropping one of the two remaining orbital strikes didn't really qualify as "correct" in Matsuri's mind.

Kagami typed in some more coordinate and pressed enter. Matsuri knew where the place she had just targeted for bombing was.

"Kagami that's on us!" She screamed and resisted the urge to strangle her sister.

"I know." Kagami turned around and smiled.

"Are you insane!?"

"Probably, if you start running now you could probably make outside the blast radius. It's really not that far actually." Kagami informed her with an evil smile. Matsuri didn't question why Kagami had lost her mind, she only ran. Since she and Kagami had seldom left the relay tower section of the Crawler, she didn't really know too much of the layout. Soon she was running across the large open landing pad, she darted between Vertibirds and soldiers. They were still scrambling to deal with the makeshift attack. She ran into a small building on the landing pad and followed the stairs down to the third floor. This was the research level.

It was eerily silent, like the battle outside hadn't reached this part of the Crawler yet. Matsuri wretched as she saw a scientists corpse, the poor guy looked like someone had taken a sword to him a few dozen times. She carefully stepped over the blood, all of a sudden she was extremely terrified. After stepping onto a balcony she got a full view of the main room of the research floor, all the energy barriers that kept the claw monsters had disappeared. _Damn it, Kagami let them go. That was what she was saying about Deathclaws. Shit shit shit shit shit…_

Matsuri knew she couldn't linger, she picked up her pace and hoped that none of those things would find her. She rounded a corner that led to a case of stairs leading down, she followed them then turned another corner.

In front of her was a ten foot tall monster looking down at her. She had practically run into it, she could feel its hot breath on her and smell the stench that came with it. It smelled like rotting meat.

"N-n-nice Deathclaw…" She cooed and slowly stepped backwards. Matsuri briefly forgot that there were stares and ended up tripping. The last thing she saw were two sets of massive bone claws flying at her.

**LAST ACT OF CHIVALRY**

Minami drew _Vampire's Edge _and stepped down the ramp.

"Minami…what are you doing?" Konata asked nervously.

"Go on, I'll deal with these things, we'll meet up later." She replied quickly and stepped back onto the battlefield.

"Minami that's not what I meant, let me help you!" Konata cried and ran to catch up with her,

"No, keep going." Minami nearly hissed. "I'll be fine, I know how to deal with these things and you know I have a good sense of self preservation. I don't think we have much time before another orbital strike gets dropped." Konata gulped and stepped back.

"Wait before I go…" The green haired girl said, Konata watched in confusion as Minami cut part of her hand with her sword. She used both hands to smear the blood across each palm equally; then she pressed her palm against Konatas forehead and left an orange-red smear.

"What…was that?" Konata asked nervously, that was the creepiest thing she had seen Minami do.

"It's supposed to bring you good fortune in battle or something." Minami replied, "It's Arroyan if what Yui told me is correct. You're mother was from Arroyo so it makes it relevant."

"Thanks?" Konata said awkwardly. It was strange how everyone seemed to know everything about her mother but her, even Minami seemed to be more knowledgeable about that. And she had learned this all from Yui too, Konata decided that after this was over she was going to interrogate Yui about her family.

"I'm leaving now."

"R-right, see you later I guess."

Minami didn't reply, she just plunged straight into the fray. Konata knew she should have pressed on, but she was mesmerized and couldn't take her eyes off of Minami. Instead of charging straight into the Deathclaws, Minami walked over to a wounded Hellfire soldier and helped him up. _What's she doing?_

"Sigma team right?" Minami asked, of course Konata couldn't hear her.

"Y-yeah…" The Hellfire soldier nodded and managed to get up with her help, he had taken a bad shot to the chest from a plasma rifle. "Do I know you? You look really familiar…"

"Sigma Squad Beta, it was 2271 remember?" Minami replied.

"Yeah, shit I was in that squad. I thought everyone died though." He said and drew his own laser rifle, he was going to need it with those Deathclaws closing in. "No it was me, Kuroi, and Iwasaki left in the end. Kuroi stole all the glory and got promoted, then she died a few weeks ago…that means you're Iwasaki."

"Good to see you again Brendan." She smiled. "We'll talk more after we take care of this." She was referring to the Deathclaws who had just begun their slaughter. Minami used her left hand to draw that strange pistol she had found in the power works. She tested it out on one Deathclaw that had gotten a little too close, the thing promptly exploded into ashes. _I love having weapons that can do that…_

The rest of the Deathclaws instantly turned to face her, with some rudimentary intelligence, they knew she was a threat. Minami had not been expecting to have to fight thirteen at once. She blasted away with the alien-like weapon, she managed to hit about half of them but only one dissolved into ashes like before. The weapon clicked empty and Minami threw it aside in frustration. Frustration at herself for wasting ammo like that.

She still had her trusty blade though, and it was going to be rough but Minami knew she could take them. The first one up did the Deathclaw signature claw lunge, Minami was a master at dodging this attack. She ducked right beneath the claw and jammed the blade straight into its skull. One down, twelve to go.

The second one came up so fast that she didn't have time to prepare herself thoroughly for its attack. She managed to avoid getting sliced in half by going prone and rolling out of the way. She on her feet in a second and leaped onto the Deathclaws back, she got a hold of it by wrapping her legs around its body. Konata watched from the ramp in amazement as Minami began slicing at its back.

The Deathclaw was too uncoordinated to swipe Minami off its back. She dodged its arching swipes easily.

Sadly, Deathclaws are not pack predators, they have no sense of community. Another one leapt forward and stabbed its claws through the one Minami was on. The claws only grazed her but she still stumbled down onto the pavement. She scrambled to grab her fallen sword but a clawed foot embedded itself onto her back.

Konata fired a shot from her gauss rifle and knocked it off of her. Minami stumbled to her feet and turned around… Now the other eleven were sprinting at her, and she was unarmed. Konata tried to reload in time but the Deathclaws quickly swarmed Minami like piranhas going after an unlucky cow who wandered into the Amazon.

They pushed and shoved at each other to get at the fresh meat, Minami drew her broken knife and took swipes at them and tried to push her way through them. At close distance they couldn't use their claws effectively, but they still could bite.

The blunette collapsed onto her knees and dropped her gun. She could feel hot tears burning down her face, another one of her friends had fallen. Another fallen star. Wait, there was still hope; she saw Minami miraculously climbing out over the shoulder of one of the Deathclaws. The girl stuck her arm out in some desperate attempt to escape the feeding frenzy that was taking part around her. She couldn't tell if it was blessing or not that the Deathclaws were too busy fighting over each other to pay attention to her. It didn't matter, one that hadn't made it into the circle happy bit into her arm. The last thing Konata saw of Minami was her slowly sinking back into the fray with the remains of her right arm sticking out. All that was left of her that was visible was her forearm; which had bee reduced to a sliver of broken bloody bone. _In the end it took eleven Deathclaws at once to take her down. Well played Minami…well played._

Minami screamed for the first time in her life as she fell back onto the pavement, not like when she was yelling at Konata to stop watching her piss behind a rock, she was screaming like an animal caught in a snare. She screamed when she saw what was left of her arm, part of her was gone now. _At least I used my left hand to masturbate…but my right was dominant. _It was funny, in her opinion, the thoughts that flashed into her mind when she was faced with danger. _Now how are you going to get out of this one ol' Minami? _The Deathclaws were still busy trying to shove past each other so maybe she had a chance. Until one of them managed to breakthrough the crowd and head butt her in the gut with its horns. It bit down and tore through her stomach wall, it reared its head back and pulled back her intestines in a gory ball. _No, no, NO! I'm not the one who's supposed to die, I'm the hero not Konata. NO NO NO NO NO. _

She screamed and kicked her feet, panic set in and she tried to squirm away. Another one caught on and tried head butting her as well. One of its horns pierced through her cheek and destroyed most of her left eye, then bit a chunk of her jaw off with it. Minami could feel her teeth shattering against the Deathclaw's own. Soon more were catching on. Minami screamed as she was head butted and picked apart piece by piece, feeling each part of her body torn away as she died in horrible, agonizing pain.

Konata forced herself to look away, she picked up her weapon and reloaded it. There was still work to do, she still needed to find Kagami. She _had_ to find Kagami. Her mother, her father, Misao, Ayano, and now Minami… Konatas heart wouldn't be able to handle another death related to her. She _was _going to find Kagami, and they _were _going to live happily ever after.

There was a thundering crack from behind her, Konata turned around to see that all of the Deathclaws that had torn Minami limb-from-limb were being reduced to ash from a flurry of blue electricity. Apparently they had broken the Tesla Cannon and caused it to explode. Minami wasn't going down alone. Konata took one last look at that blackened stretch of land and the ashy remains of the Deathclaws and her friend. She could only hoped that Minami had suffered a quick and painless death.

She stepped into the Mobile Base Crawler and wiped her tears away, now was the time to finish this. The first room she entered looked like an armory of sorts, there were energy weapons laying around everywhere. There was only one thing she found that looked like it would be useful- Six plasma grenades. Konata turned around when she heard the door that she had come through open again.

"Squad Sigma go!" A Hellfire soldier commanded. Konata lobbed a plasma grenade towards the doorway as more of them pile through. There was a massive explosion of green fire that scattered them, but Hellfire armor was built to resist heat. Konata knew this and lobbed in two more for good measure. That did the trick.

Konata passed through a door labeled "repair bay" and walked right into a man wearing a blue Robco jumpsuit, the very same kind that Yui had.

"Whoa, who're you and what were all those explosions a moment ago?" He asked and put his hands behind his head.

"Konata Izumi, I'm here to get my waifu Kagami back." She answered, her voice was as cold as ice.

"Oh, Hiiragi?" He stuttered, "Yeah, she's up in the satellite I think. I don't know who you are or what you want, but I'm going to give you a friendly warning. The next floor is a Deathclaw research facility that Kuroi had set up, a lot of them are running rampant. Oh yeah and there are robots patrolling everywhere."

"Is there anything you can do about the robots?" Konata asked and pointed her gauss rifle at him. Big guns tended to sway opinions.

"I can recalibrate them to fire at Enclave instead of intruders." He answered.

"Do it." Konata demanded and walked past him to a row of metal stairs ascending to the next floor. She didn't need to turn around to know that he had obeyed, he seemed too terrified to disobey.

She moved onto the next floor, the lights were dim and blue which gave the place an eerie vibe. Konata crept down the long halls with her weapon ready for action. She passed a few Enclave corpses and some Deathclaw corpses to go along with it. It seemed like she had missed a pretty big battle by a few minutes.

All the pens that had kept the Deathclaws were open and there were no signs of any life so far. She found another set of stairs leading to the upper part of the research level, someone had suffered a pretty grizzly death at the base of the stairs. It didn't look like the person had belonged to the Enclave, there wasn't any trace of power armor or white latex. Following standard Deathclaw tradition, the monster had done its best to smear its kill all over the walls. Bits of flesh, bone, and brown hair were splattered against the wall in a grotesque version of a child's finger painting drawing. Konata unknowingly stepped over the bloody mess that had once been Matsuri, and continued onwards.

By sheer luck she managed to bypass every single patrol on her way to the landing pad. Konata climbed another set of stairs that lead to a small hollow metal building on the edge of the landing pad. She stepped into the open stretch of concrete under the open sky. Sentrybots were happily gunning down Enclave soldiers. It looked like the engineer on the ground floor had kept his word and turned the robots against them. If he hadn't had done that, Konata knew that she would have probably been killed instantly. In the chaos of the infighting she sprinted low to the ground towards the satellite tower. A vertibird exploded from a wayward shot and the back draft sent Konata rolling into the door that would take her inside the tower.

(**A/N- Fun fact, that part is REALLY GODDAMNED hard if you don't get those robots to fight for you, and for some reason you never have enough stimpaks there. Seriously having five heavy incinerators blasting away at you along with several gattling lasers sucks. If only you people could have seen my rage fits when I was doing the part on Very Hard difficulty. Even with a gauss rifle and Chinese stealth armor.**)

**ABOUT FORTY FEET ABOVE HER…**

Kagami looked at the countdown, just another thirty minutes until the big kaboom. The Deathclaws had worked better than she had hoped, they had killed nearly everyone. Better yet, someone turned the robots on the Enclave. She was probably one of the last few souls left alive on the Crawler, she really hoped that Matsuri had made it far away though.

The sound of someone climbing up the latter onto the floor she was on broke her train of thought. Kagami silently slid over to the circuit box of that floor and killed the lights, the only thing that was illuminating the place were the pale yellow lights of the terminals. Kagami peered around the corner and looked to see if she could see the intruder, in the dim light she could tell it wasn't Enclave. This person was wearing ragtag mercenary style armor and some strange crescent thing sticking out of their hair.

The wall exploded next to Kagami as the intruder fired their weapon at her. Kagami went prone and drew her own plasma pistol, she had to be careful since it looked like this person was toting around a grenade launcher of some kind. She took aim and fired several shots that…

**CHANGE OF POV…**

…splattered against Konatas power armor. The green fire began eating away at the metal like fire on paper. Konata quickly unbuckled the straps that kept the armor on herself and let it fall to her feet. The Enclave officer who had done this was a woman that had hair almost exactly like Tsukasa's, only a bit shorter. In the shadows, she couldn't quite make out the officers face. All she knew was that Kagami was somewhere in this tower, and this was the last floor that she needed to explore.

Konata went to reload her gauss rifle, but she had just spent her last microfusion cell with that last shot. Improvising, she grabbed the gun by the barrel and charged at the officer. The Enclave woman was on her feet in a second and barely managed to dodge Konatas swing with the weapon. She swung it horizontally and tried again, the butt of the gun hit the Enclave officer in the ribs and she dropped onto her knees. Konata flipped her on her back with a shove of her foot.

When the woman fell on her back, the officers cap she was wearing fell off and in the light Konata could realize who it was. Konata felt dizzy and stepped back. "K-k-k…."

Kagami rose to her feet and clutched her ribs, in the dim yellow light she saw who had just broken two of her ribs. Her face morphed into a hysterical smile, and she sprinted over and hugged Konata as hard as she could.

"You were supposed to be dead!" She said excitedly, then let Konata go. "Ah, no! You were supposed to be dead!"

Konata was so surprised and overjoyed about seeing her friend that she didn't know which of the 80 million or so questions she had to ask first. Kagami paced around in circles quickly and pulled at what little of her hair she had left.

"S-something wrong?" Konata asked placed a hand on Kagami's shoulder. Kagami turned and shook her head.

"I thought you were dead so I infiltrated the Enclaves ranks and just launched and orbital strike that will drop here in just twenty minutes!"

Konatas smile faded. "That's not good is it?"

"No, I don't want to die if I know that you're still alive!" Kagami replied and struggled to hold back tears.

"Wh-what do we do now then?" Konata asked meekly and could barely stand. She had finally finished her quest and this was a "nothing can save us now" kind of scenario. Nothing was ever simple was it.

"I don't know." Kagami moaned and slumped against the wall behind her. "Go onto the last landing pad above here and watch the Falling Stars. Who knows there may still be one last Vertibird."

"Can you fly one?" Konata asked and began climbing the latter that would take them outside.

"Let's find out." Kagami said hollowly and followed Konata. No luck, there was no Vertibird there. Kagami looked over the edge and saw all the carnage she had caused with her turrets and Deathclaws. She didn't feel so good about any of it anymore.

"Kagami…" Konata whispered and put her hand on her friends shoulder again.

Kagami quickly turned around and dropped to one knee. They were going to die in just a little bit, so she thought of something that she should do before they went out.

"Konata Izumi." Kagami said with a genuine smile. "Will you marry me?"

Konata wasn't sure if she had heard that right, "Wuh?"

"I asked if you'd give me the honor of being your bride. Even if we never have a chance to get married." Konata cheerfully explained to her.

"Kagami, you pick the strangest times to joke about-"

Her words were cut off by Kagami's lips pressing against hers. Kagami lifted her up and Konata placed her arms around Kagami's neck. They both placed more passion in that kiss than anything else they had ever put passion into during their entire lives. It was everything both of them had ever dreamed it would have been. All those feelings Kagami had associated with romance didn't come close to describing what it truly felt like. _Now I can die happy. I don't care what happens now. _

A few minutes later they finally broke it off. "You're worse than I imagined." Konata giggled.

Kagami blushed, "It's not like I've had practice you know." Kagami kissed Konata again and felt Konata's less-than-well-endowed-chest beneath her black cotton shirt.

"Whoa, wasn't expecting my Kagamin to go that far on a first date." Konata gasped, the feeling was unexpected but not unwelcome.

"We're going to die in fifteen minutes." Kagami reminded her. "I reserve the right to do whatever the hell I damn well want to do." With that she unbuttoned her officers coat and threw it aside. She was pulling off her plain white bra when history repeated itself once again.

Behind them the sound of helicopter blades were deafening as a Vertibird landed on the concrete, they had been interrupted again. Konata and Kagami braced for the worse, both of them were unarmed now. Instead of a contingent of soldiers like they imagined, it was Akira Kogami. Kagami shouted in surprise and embarrassment and quickly went to putting her clothes back on, Konata was laughing the whole time.

"You guys want a ride?" She smiled and beckoned them to walk forward.

The two lovers ran to their exit vehicle, smiling and laughing the whole way out. It looked like this story had a happy ending after all. They found two seats inside the Vertibird and sat next to each other, hand in hand.

"Alright, next stop Citadel!" The pilot announced. Kagami recognized that voice, it was the cynical assistant the Enclave had issued her at first.

"Wilder, is that you?" She asked, she had heard that he defected. But joining the Brotherhood seemed a bit of a stretch.

"Sup Hiiragi!" He cried back, Kagami remembered him violently hating her. "Can you believe that the Brotherhood let me be a pilot for them. I didn't even pass all the flight simulations in Raven Rock either!"

"Sure…Hey, land this thing on one of the roofs at Adams." She replied. "You guys may want to watch this."

"Onwards to watch shit blow up!" He obeyed and landed the craft on top of the building that Konata had lowered the ramp from. They stepped out and crowded around Kagami.

"This is a good explanation as to why I was at that place." Kagami said and pointed towards the jets of flame arching across the sky. A dozen missiles rained down on the Crawler and obliterated it in a massive explosion that rocked the ground beneath them. Konata, Akira, Wilder, his co-pilot, and some Paladin all cheered for Kagami. They knew that it was her doing.

"Come on, lets all go home." Konata said happily.

**BACK ON THE OTHER SIDE…**

They climbed out of the Vertibird one by one into the front of the Citadel. Konata knew something was wrong before she even exited the vehicle, she could smell smoke and fire. When she stepped out she saw that the Citadel was gone. In its place was a smoking black mess of twisted burnt steel and concrete. A two dozen very unhappy looking members of the Brotherhood of Steel.

Kagami was the next to walk out. _Oh…forgot about that_. She mentally prepared a lie about how it wasn't her that had done this. But she would have probably been more convincing if she wasn't wearing an Enclave Officers uniform.

"That's the one." Minoru said and pointed at Kagami. "That's the one who did this!" Konata looked up at her and gave her a sad look that said, _they're not telling the truth are they?_

"T-this…this wasn't me!" Kagami shouted at them. "I was the one who blew up the Crawler, why would I do this too!?"

"You can stop you lies right there. Iwasaki left us a letter before she left, it told us everything about you." Minoru said and crossed his arms.

"Kagami…you…you didn't right?" Konata stuttered nervously, she didn't want this to be true.

"Minami's wrong, she got her information from Talon mercenaries or something. I don't know but this wasn't my fault!" Kagami shouted in frustration, It of course _was _her fault but that was a little detail that Konata didn't need to know.

"I don't care anymore about who set up who!" Minoru yelled back and drew his plasma rifle. "Brotherhood, at arms. Kill them all."

"Minoru you bastard!" Akira yelled, "They did a good thing and you're punishing them with death?"

He laughed a nervous shaky laugh. Kagami could tell that he had lost most of his sanity from along with the Citadel. "Just let God sort them out."

Konata found her old 10mm pistol from her bag and clutched it. "So Kagamin, it's about twenty of them and only two five of us. And all I have is a 10mm pistol. What do you think of our odds?"

Kagami gave her a confident smile. "If Akira hands us each a microfusion cell then I think it would be a fair fight."

"I think it's actually a bit unfair for them." Konata added with her own smile. _Just one more fight… _The two of the them stood back to back as Akira tossed them both each a microfusion battery. Under the dark ashy sky, they would fight to the death.

But it didn't have to end with death.

**A WEEK LATER…**

Konata smiled and felt the warm sun on her skin and the cool waves of the clean ocean water splash against her toes. She had her head of Kagami's lap and the two of them were enjoying the fun of the beach.

Behind them were several stone markers that made sure that no one who died in this would ever be forgotten.

"So what do we now?" Kagami asked and softly stroked Konata's hair.

Konata shrugged on her lap. "Go adventuring I guess?" She suggested with a tone of voice that Kagami picked up on.

"Somewhere you wanna go?" She asked, but she already knew the answer.

"Kind of." Konata admitted. "I did some asking around and finally got some answers."

"Answers about what?"

"My mother. You know how a tribal killed the last Enclave president about twenty-five years ago?

"Yeah."

"It was her. My mom was the one who did that!" Konata told her excitedly. "But she left Arroyo after all of that because they treated her like a god of death or something. She didn't want to be known as the woman who destroyed the American Government so she moved out here with her sister and her sister's husband. The gauss rifle I have was actually hers, but she gave it to Misao when she found her dieing in the wastes; I guess she thought that she needed more."

"Wow…" Kagami muttered, that was all she could say. "You really are you mothers daughter aren't you?"

"Yes I am." Konata declared proudly. "So I was thinking maybe we could visit Arroyo. I heard its still there and now it's a pretty big city, bigger than Megaton."

"I would gladly go with you." Kagami told her.

"But before that we have to get your fathers blessings." Konata reminded her. "If we don't then you can never become Kagami Izumi."

"Right." Kagami smiled. "Speaking of family…umm….how do you feel about…kids?"

Konata giggled, "Silly Kagamin, even I know that's biologically impossible."

"Don't be so sure, there were a lot of scientific breakthroughs in the 2050's. I know of a fairly interesting one that allows childbearing between same sex partners that allows the child to have the same amount of DNA from each parent."

"I'll think about it." Konata told her shyly. She had never thought of having kids, especially with Kagami. She didn't know how to react now that was a possibility. "Anyways we could probably get going, I bet Tsukasa would like to see you."

"Right."

"And Kagami?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you." Konata declared confidently. Even after proposing, that was the first time either of them had said it. "I began loving you when you saved me from Butch during my tenth birthday party. I loved you even when you hit me, I loved you even when I nearly died trying to find you again."

"I love you too." Kagami replied and took her hands. A tear of happiness slid down her cheek. "I started loving you when you believed in me when no one else did. Not even myself." Konata stood on her toes and kissed Kagami on the lips.

"Love me, Kagami." Konata whispered and kissed the soft flesh of her fiancés neck. Within seconds both their sundresses were off and lying in the sand.

An hour later they were laying naked together just enjoying the warmth of each others bodies and the cool waves that churned endlessly. Konata sat up and let the waves wash off the sand that clung to her body. She traced circles on Kagami's tummy with her finger and just enjoyed the view. Kagami looked a lot different that she had back in the vault in September. Her body was crisscrossed with faded scars and her famous tsundere pigtails were gone. Konata still thought of her as the most beautiful woman in the world.

"It's starting to get dark." Kagami noted. "We should probably get going."

They stood up and turned around to take one last look at those stone effigies that Hiyori had helped them make.

One for Kanata Izumi who devoted her life to bringing clean water to the wastelands. Kanata Izumi who had gladly died to bring her daughter into the world.

One for Sojiro Izumi who stood by his wife's side and did his best to follow her dreams with her. He forsook the future of humanity for that of his daughter, than gave his life so that his wife's dreams wouldn't be perverted by Nanako Kuroi.

One for Misao Kusakabe who didn't really do that much helpful stuff until those girls from Vault 101 showed up. She tried to make up for all her wrongs by joining them in the battle for Project Purity. Misao died happily knowing that she had made a difference.

One for Ayano Minegishi who couldn't live without her best friends childish banter and behavior. She didn't know how to go on without her Misao at her side after being with her for so long.

And one last one for Minami Iwasaki. The girl who never wanted to be a part of any of this. But she knew that injustice anywhere was a threat to justice everywhere. Despite all of the Capital Wasteland's problems, it didn't deserve to be eradicated by one insane woman.

Konata and Kagami turned and walked down to the beach to Rivet City. Neither of them would ever forget those faces and the sacrifices they made, their contributions, or most importantly- The love and friendship between them.

With the two girls being targets for the remaining Brotherhood of Steel and Enclave, and with Kagami still hailed as a villain by the majority of the wastes... The future seemed uncertain, but Konata knew it would turn out just fine with Kagami at her side. Wherever the wastes took them, what ever challenges it presented, whatever stood in front of them. Konata would gladly charge into it blindly headfirst with her cat grin plastered on her face and with Kagami reluctantly being dragged behind her.

"Konata?"

"Yeah?"

"We forgot our clothes back at the beach."

"Oops."

**THE END**


	26. The Republic Of Miyuki And Other Tales

**THE REPUBLIC OF MIYUKI AND OTHER TALES**

So this is an epilogue of sorts, since the story kind of ended open endedly I decided that I'll give a summary of what happened to each character afterwards. I also noticed that I screwed up the timeline, I portrayed the events of Fallout 2 as being ten years ahead of when they were supposed to happen. I kind of needed to do that so Kanata wouldn't be too old, she was one of the few characters whose age I wanted to get right. Yes, she was also the protagonist of Fallout 2 for anyone hasn't played that game and wasn't able to pick up on the hints, or is unfamiliar with the game.

**KONATA IZUMI…**

Her and Kagami lingered in the Capital Wastes for a few months doing a few odd jobs here and there. Konata loved the thrill of adventure and dragged Kagami on any little quest she could find. This included oddball tasks such as… Finding the Declaration of Independence, granting a mutated tree person the peace of death in a non-painful way, finally completing her bobble-head collection, and even searching through an abandoned Vault to find a violin for a elderly woman.

Overtime she eventually collected a series of titles and affiliations, since it would be a pain to go into detail of all her adventures, they have been summarized here by her affiliations and titles.

-Inhabitant of Vault 101

-Knight of The Brotherhood of Steel

-Honorary member of Lyons Pride

-Member of the "Regulators"

-Member of "Reilly's Rangers"

-Citizen of Tenpenny Tower (With Kagami)

-Collection agent for the Brotherhood Outcasts

-De Facto leader of the Pitt.

-U.S Army demolitions expert…Long story.

-Ex-slave

-Member of "The Railroad"

-Tunnel Snake

-Mechano-lass

-Owner of Cherry

Eventually she couldn't ignore the call to find out more about herself and her family. She plotted a course across the United States of America to find the town of New Arroyo in northern California. Kagami was determined to go with her and wanted to visit some western cities like The New California Republic and other places. She believed there was technology there that would interest her.

On one sunny morning in May they set out.

**KAGAMI IZUMI**

Her family was a bit confused by declaration of marriage but weren't reluctant. They were just happy that she was finally safe and sound home, and if she wanted to spend her life with the woman who rescued her…Well that was fine by them.

Kagami was dragged along by Konata on all sorts of wasteland adventures. She didn't mind too much since the majority of them were pretty fun. The secret about how she destroyed Liberty Prime and the Citadel died along with Minami, Kagami thoroughly believed that no one needed to know that was her who had done that. She had done a lot of things she regretted but was determined to forget about them. Maybe she should have died on the Crawler, maybe that was what she deserved. Kagami was determined to make sure she would no longer deserve a fate like that from now on.

Like Konata, she also accumulated a series of titles after their adventures, she bore them reluctantly.

-Inhabitant of Vault 101

-Honorary member of Lyons Pride

-Assassin for "Littlehorn and Associates"

-Member of "Reilly's Rangers"

-Citizen of Tenpenny Tower

-Collection agent for the Brotherhood Outcasts

-Eden's Instrument of Annihilation

-Slaver

-Lieutenant of The Pitt

She was determined to have a proper wedding, even in the a shattered post apocalyptic world. The problem was the only church they could find was on in Rivet City, and that church was heavily against same sex marriage. With Tsukasa's help, they staged it so Kagami appeared to be male.

All it took was a very tight tuxedo and a lack talking on her part. They pulled it off well, Kagami still enjoyed herself even if she was called "The Groom" mockingly by everyone around her for years to come.

Tsukasa had gladly tailored each of them their garments for the wedding. A tight fitting white tuxedo for Kagami and a slim crimson dress for Konata. Anyone would have agreed they looked beautiful together.

The couple left the Capital Wasteland in May so Konata could find peace of mind about herself. Kagami went along for multiple reasons, she wanted to be with her love, she wanted to help her, and she wanted to investigate places like the NCR and Vault City. She had heard plenty of tales about how much prewar technology they both had. There was only one thing she really wanted out of those places though…

**MIYUKI TAKARA**

Yukari had taken everyone from Vault 101 to a settlement called the Republic of Dave. Since it was a republic they held annual elections…and Yukari won since the Vault Dwellers outnumbered the original inhabitants 3:1. Sadly she passed away shortly after the events that took place at the Crawler. Her death was mysterious, she died from some sort of fever that was claiming the lives of many wasteland inhabitants.

Miyuki was the vice president she the settlement became the Republic of Miyuki. It flourished for generations to come and became the largest city in the Capital Wastelands overtime.

**TSUKASA HIIRAGI**

After the fall of the Brotherhood, Tsukasa followed Miyuki and became the secretary of state for the Republic of Miyuki. She also worked a school teacher, doctor, and cook as well.

Her and Miyuki remained best friends for the rest of their lives.

**YUTAKA KOBAYAKAWA **

After Minami died, the Family quickly disassembled and everyone went about their own ways. Yutaka moved back with her sister and happily helped her with her insane research.

Together they furthered the scientific worlds knowledge about the Brahmin language, mole rat domestication, and the wonders of the Deathclaw sanctuary. The latter claimed the lives of seven research assistants.

**MINAMI IWASAKI**

N/A

Killed by Deathclaws.

**PATRICIA MARTIN**

She continued her job at Rivet City like nothing ever happened. Patty still played almost no part in the events of this story.

**HIYORI TAMURA**

Since the majority of her science team were killed when the Citadel was bombed, she had no where to go. Hiyori took what little scientists she had left and moved to The Republic of Miyuki and worked there.

They made less scientific progress than Yui and Yutaka did.

**AYANO MINEGISHI **

N/A

Killed in freak gas explosion accident that looked like a suicide.

**MISAO KUSAKABE**

N/A

Killed by fatal gunshot would by Nanako Kuroi.

**AKIRA KOGAMI**

Joined the Outcasts and continued doing what the Brotherhood of Steel was born to do. She eventually found an military depot with twelve working Chimera tanks. The results WEREN'T pretty.

**MINORU SHIRAISHI**

N/A

Killed in freak Chimera tank accident. Death could be easily be blamed on Akira.

**NANAKO KUROI**

N/A

Killed by plasma grenade detonated by herself.

**SOJIRO IZUMI**

N/A

Killed by Kuroi after suffering a gunshot wound to the head.

**KANATA IZUMI**

N/A

Died shortly after childbirth from complications.

**YUI NARUMI**

See "Yutaka Kobayakawa".

**TADAO HIIRAGI**

He lived out his life peacefully with his wife at Tenpenny tower. The gracious sum of money Kagami left them kept them both happy and kept for.

**MIKI HIIRAGI**

Same as her husband.

**INORI HIIRAGI**

N/A

Killed by modified FEV in drinking water.

**MATSURI HIIRAGI**

N/A

Killed by Deathclaw.

**YUKARI TAKARA**

N/A

Killed by modified FEV in drinking water.

_**SPIRITS AMONG US**_

On top of Rivet City on one fine April morning, a crowd of applause and cheer sounded out as Konata and Kagami sealed their everlasting love with a kiss. Kagami picked her bride up off her feet and embraced her for what felt like an eternity. All the war, death, and struggle was over and she could now focus on building a life for the two of them. She knew that their future plans would surely throw them in the face of conflict but it wouldn't never be at a scale like that ever again. One thing was also certain; Kagami Izumi would _never _repeat her same mistakes. She would never lose hope like she had ever again, she would never fall to the vices that claimed so many others again.

"_Well it looks like I did a good job raising her after all._" Sojiro said and crossed his arms, despite so many trials and tribulations his daughter had come out alright.

"_She did didn't she? I only wish she hadn't had turned out to be so much like me._" Kanata agreed. Sojiro laughed at his incorporeal wife's remark.

"_Ha, she did end up like you in almost every way huh? Charging straight into battle into the Enclave with companions at her side; trying to save what she held dear. There's no doubt about one thing, she certainly is our daughter._" It was true, Konata had followed her mothers footsteps so closely that it was uncanny.

"_I helped though!_" Misao yelled and jumped in between them. "_I was Konata's master who taught her everything she knew, she was like my apprentice or something_." Konata's parents both chuckled at that.

"_Oh Misa-chan be modest_." Ayano tried to say to Misao. The deceased fanged girl stuck her fingers in her ears and skipped way to ignore the lecture. She skipped past Minami who was standing unseen behind Yutaka.

"_I guess you don't need me anymore._" Minami said to the tiny girl, her words went unheard of course. "_Just try not to listen to your sister and cousin okay? Motorcycles are dangerous, and the new water isn't safe to drink at all. Also stay away from the Dunwich Building, that place isn't right."_

"_You sound like a mother talking to a kid who's about to go on their first field trip._" Kuroi said and shook her head. "_She learned from the best, she's going to be fine don't worry._"

"_You have a lot of nerve showing up here_." Minami said quietly and walked away. She stood at the railings of the flight deck and looked out into the Atlantic Ocean. The afterlife was a strange thing, it was hard to tell if it was truly the afterlife anyways. Minami wasn't sure if she was an actual ghost or just some disembodied collection of memories and echoes from everyone who had been around her all formed together into a single incorporeal mass. Either way, whatever she was made out of wasn't going to stop her from finding the mystery to something only the dead new. What happened to her father; Jaime Iwasaki, who had left with his own father to possibly find a better life for his family.

"_I don't really see your problem with me._" Kuroi snorted, "_What did I ever do to you? Besides break a few bones here and there? If you really hated me you would have been at the Jefferson Memorial, but no you chose to stay behind. Behind your warped sense of judgment, you're all talk. We were friends before, weren't we? What changed Iwasaki? All we did was change careers._"

Those words stung Minami, to some extent Kuroi was right. They _had _been friends before, that was before Minami was "Dishonorably Discharged". After meeting Yutaka, Minami's view on the world had become a little brighter and she began believing that sometimes injustice was worth standing up against. Yutaka's bright bubbly innocence in such a dark world was what motivated her to resist dark tyranny. Kuroi fit the description of a tyrant pretty well. It was Yutaka that had changed her.

"_No, you changed. You weren't the woman I knew before, Nanako, you really used to be a good person._" Minami answered her, "_What happened to you, I used to look up to you and respect you. I wanted to be like you._"

Ghost Kuroi sighed, "_The Enclave wasn't the same after you left and everyone else died. I wanted to see you again after we said goodbye, but what you did to Arefu and the others. You and The Family were turning into the exact same thing we fought so hard to kill off, it hurt to see you stoop that low. Then when I came asking for help, you drew steel against me…that hurt Minami, that really hurt. And after my dad and that whole fucking thing with you-know-who, I couldn't take another heartbreak like that._"

The six spirits gathered together and watched the happiness and merriment that took place between the two lovers and the wedding guests. Kuroi felt hopelessly out of place among the five of them. None of them could hardly believe how much of impact those two girls had left on the Capital Wastelands in such a short time. Of course each of them had all played a part in the story of those girls, from small to large and good to bad. It didn't matter though; the end justified the means.

_**SEPTEMBER 27**__**TH**__** 2282**_

Tsukasa finished grading the rest of the homework she had assigned her class. Since she had to create lessons and work out of memory, being a teacher for the Republic of Miyuki was difficult.

The settlement had definitely flourished. Miyuki was good leader and the town expanded quickly as people from all over the wastes moved into this safe haven. It wasn't long before everyone in Big Town packed up moved there as well. The town was in the far corner of the Capital Wastes where raiders and Super Mutants didn't go. Everyone was worried that maybe slavers or Enclave would launch attacks but after five years the Enclave was completely gone from the Capital Wastelands.

It had been five years hadn't it? Tsukasa checked her Pip-Boy, five years to that very date exactly. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she had left the Vault and journeyed into the outside. So much happened back then so fast, it was amazing that any of them got out alive on the end.

She walked slowly out into the towns foyer and out towards the gates. After awhile she had begun to walk unassisted, she couldn't run or frolic but she wasn't bound to crutches or a wheel chair. Tsukasa glared out into the horizon and let her mind wander as she looked at the Washing Monument sticking out of the D.C. ruins. Scavenging had exploded there since there were no longer and Super Mutants and Ghouls, the modified FEV had killed every last one of them. Despite how menacing and dangerous they were, it saddened Tsukasa to think about how they were now all extinct. Mole rats, Radscorpions, and Deathclaws were all gone too.

In the distance Tsukasa saw three figures walking down the road towards the town. A small child walking between them, an adult on the left, and someone who was somewhere in between adult and child sized on the right.

"Onee-chan!" Tsukasa called out and began limping to her sister. Four and a half years had done little to change her sisters appearance, especially since she had grown her pigtails back.

"Tsukasa is that you?" Kagami asked excitedly and ran up to her sister. Tsukasa's hair down to the small of her back now. With her long hair and lack of ribbon, Tsukasa looked a lot more like a woman than the little girl she had been when they left the Vault. Kagami thought she looked a lot like Matsuri, just with different hair now.

"It's me!" She replied and hugged her twin. "Wow you two were gone a long time, I wasn't sure I'd ever see you again."

"We ran into some trouble at the New California Republic." Kagami told her than glared at Konata, who hadn't changed a bit. "Because someone just had to pick a fight with the biggest guy she could."

"If all those guards didn't have gauss pistols that we _so _could have taken them." Konata said smugly. "Those guys at Vault City were a lot nicer…"

"Oh Kona-chan, did you get to the place your mom was from?" Tsukasa asked, since that was the whole purpose of their journey.

"Yeah we did." Konata told her. "Took longer than expected since we got wrong directions. Apparently northern California really means southern Oregon…but you should have been there Tsukasa. The place was bigger than Megaton by far and had full blown power and water, even a movie theatre!"

"Wow!"

"And that's not even the best part. New Arroyo's elders all gave Kagami and the royal treatment since I look almost exactly like my mom or something."

"You told them that you were the reincarnated version of her." Kagami reminded her and shook her head. "Come on, now those guys are going to be awaiting the reincarnation of her again for years to come. You shouldn't give people false hope like that, it's not nice."

"But you were certainly eager to eat all the cake they made for us." Konata said with a sly cat grin. The child in between them giggled at their banter. Tsukasa had almost completely overlooked the little girl sitting there, she was a blunette with azure eyes like Kagami's. The kid couldn't have been more than three or four years old.

"Oh, who's this?" Tsukasa asked and bent down to meet this little girl face to face.

"That's your niece Tsukasa. Her name is Konami." Kagami told her with a small smile.

Tsukasa got a blank look on her face. "When did Inori have a kid?"

"Wrong sister."

"I don't remember Matsuri ever-"

"Wrong sister again."

Tsukasa realized what Kagami was trying to tell her. "But that's…you can't…is that…two girls?" She stuttered. Kagami stepped forward and whispered an explanation into her ear.

Konata nudged her daughter forward. "Go say high to your auntie Tsukasa."

Konami Izumi stepped forward and looked up at her aunt with big bright eyes. "You're my auntie?" She asked shyly.

"I guess I am." Tsukasa giggled and picked Konami up into her arms. "I haven't had any training on being an auntie though. Kagami what if I do something wrong!?"

Kagami just chuckled. "Worse case scenario, she'll end up like you."

"Heh right…I mean hey!" Tsukasa yelped and blushed. Her niece giggled some more at their banter. Tsukasa smiled and felt great knowing that her family was altogether again, well most of them at least. Her, her sister, sister-in-law, and niece; that was good enough for now. "Let me show you to the Presidential Mansion, it's actually only a three bedroom house but we like to call it that. Anyways I'm bet President Yuki-chan would love to see you all again."

And so they set off to go see their childhood friend again. They spent the rest of the day catching up and telling Miyuki of their adventures over the years. Tsukasa watched over Konami and her own childlike innocence allowed them to bond easily.

That night Konata, Kagami, and their daughter all laid on the queen sized bed that was in the guess bedroom. Konata looked at her child, Kagami was technically the mother since Konata would have suffered the same fate as her own mother. But Konami was still as much as Konata's daughter as she was Kagami's and she was filled with this unexplainable sense of happiness and love every time she looked at her. Konata understood completely now what it meant to sacrifice yourself for the life of your child. If the situation ever came, Konata would gladly do it.

"Hey Kagami?" She whispered in the dark.

"Hmm?"

"What kind of life do you think Konami will have?" She asked, their daughter was fast asleep so Konata felt okay talking about her.

"I don't know really. I mean she already had to go through some hard stuff back in Oregon, I think she'll come out okay though." Kagami replied, she was referring to the creepy cult that had attacked them on their way through a deserted town. There had been blood, lots and lots of blood.

"I think she'll be destined to go on some epic quest right when she turns adult." Konata said dreamily.

"Huh, I hope not. Why do you think that though?"

Konata had a pretty solid reason. "It's part of being in my family I guess. My great-great-grandmother stepped forth from Vault 13 and saved everyone from being turned into Super Mutants by some guy called The Master."

"I know, I read her memoirs." Kagami replied, it was interesting reading a first person story from someone who had absolutely no knowledge about the outside world when they stepped out. At least when Kagami left she had a good deal of information about the outside world pooled in her brain. What was most interesting about her memoirs was how they were written so that a person with absolutely no knowledge about the war before hand could understand it. Kagami particularly liked the description of an atomic bomb. _Take the worse thing you can possibly imagine then multiply that by a thousand, that's how bad an atomic bomb is._

"Then my mom went and took down the Enclave with her buddies. Then I did the same thing too. Think about it Kagami, its in our blood!" Konata finished.

"I guess…I just hope she can have a nice peaceful life, but that's probably not even possible in the wastes is it?" Kagami sighed.

"Not really." Konata answered. "But my main reason for thinking that is this Kagamin-

"War, war never changes."

_**TSUKASA HAS AN IDEA**_

The three of them stayed in The Republic of Miyuki for about a week. Miyuki offered them a permanent home but Kagami said she would just use her suite in Tenpenny Tower; especially since her parents had been able to afford one of their own.

Tsukasa was amazed when she looked at her two sisters then looked at their daughter. Konami Izumi's personality didn't reflect that of her parents at all. She had none of the quirky outgoing spirit of Konata, but at the same time lacked the cool confidence and hardcore realism of Kagami. Tsukasa could have swore that the little girl was more like herself than anyone else. After much thinking Tsukasa decided something.

"…Tsukasa-san are you feeling alright?" Miyuki asked after hearing Tsukasa's proposition.

"Yeah Yuki-chan, I want to have a baby too. I want to do what Kagami and Konata did, just with the two of us." Tsukasa explained happily.

"I don't know how to reply to that." Miyuki said gave her a blank stare.

"You've never wanted to be a mommy?"

"No, not particularly."

Tsukasa huffed a defeated sigh, she was only twenty-four but already she felt her biological clock ticking away. Looking into a child's eyes and seeing all their innocence, dreams, and potential was something else. In her own way, Tsukasa was jealous, to the point of envy, of her sister for having a kid like that. She wanted so desperately now one of her own, a person that would look up with her bright bubbly eyes and call her "Mommy", or "Mother" or what ever maternal nickname stuck. Someone that would love and depend on her, instead of the other way around for once.

She didn't know all of the scientific details of the procreation that happened between Konata and Kagami; well none at all actually. However, she did know that it wasn't all that difficult, Kagami had told her that she could have done it in the Capital Wastelands if she had known how at the time. Sure, the west coast had lots of prewar technology but the scientists in the Capital Wastelands were the masters of getting junk to work for them. Project Purity was a perfect example.

There was another glaring issue Tsukasa was yet to overcome; the fact that _she _couldn't have kids. She learned that after Hiyori had given her an in depth physical exam a few months after Konata had become her sister in law.

"_Keep in mind that I'm not a doctor by trade…" Hiyori said to Tsukasa who was sitting naked on a medical cot. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and continued, "…but I'm not completely incompetent. Anyways, it looks like as far as post apocalyptic nineteen year old girls go that you're in great shape. There are a few things you should know though…"_

Tsukasa had learned that there was good news and bad news. The good news was that there was a chance she would be able to walk again in the future, a great chance in fact.

Then there was the bad news that was emotionally crippling. Turns out there was a reason why she hadn't had a period since before her time in Raven Rock. Nothing in that area of her body was functioning correctly anymore, from a cynical point of view those organs were just taking up space and extra blood cells. At the time she learned that it was more of a surprise than anything else, now it was horribly depressing. Hiyori had told her that she could get a transplant and that Kagami would have been a perfect donor. But Tsukasa wouldn't have stolen that kind of happiness from her sister. Tsukasa would _never _come anywhere close to following in Kuroi's footsteps.

So she had an interesting idea…

"Yes Tsukasa that would be _exactly _like incest not just _kind of_." Kagami replied to her question and shot her a disgusted look. "I'm not going to detail about it, but let me just say that a child born under that kind of circumstance is not going to lead normal life, mentally speaking. Now for my own sanity and image I get of you, I'm going to forget you ever asked me that."

"Got to admire her bravery though." Konata said with her arms folded across her chest.

"Y-yeah I didn't really think that out did I?" Tsukasa said nervously and blushed furiously.

"Not really." Kagami sighed.

"I guess I'm just not cut out for parenthood." Tsukasa said in defeat. It was Konata who thought up an idea worth considering.

"Hmm, you two are twins so you have like all the same DNA right?" Konata asked rhetorically. "So if Kagami technically had a baby, Tsukasa could pass off as the mother genetically right?"

"I really don't know…I guess normally she would just be like an aunt, but I don't know how it works since we're fraternal twins." Kagami replied, "Konata how come I don't like where this is going?"

"Methinks you're being paranoid Kagamin." Konata smiled, "So Tsukasa have you ever considered adoption, especially if the baby is related to you?"

Kagami spat out her Nuka-cola all over the front of her faded Enclave officer's coat, which she kept around since it was both stylish and comfortable, and began choking. Konami, who was absently playing with a toy racecar, giggled softly at her mother choking on the soft drink.

"I-I don't know." Tsukasa squeaked. "I think I know what you're saying…and…" Her mutters tapered off and she smiled and though for a moment, she then enthusiastically replied. "Yeah Kona-chan that's a great idea! How about it sis?"

Kagami resisted the urge to scream and Tsukasa and slap Konata, that idea was _beyond _not okay with her. But she couldn't help look at things from Tsukasa's point of view, it didn't surprise her that this was something that Tsukasa really wanted. Giving up a child for adoption, even to her sister, didn't sit well with Kagami. Not to mention they weren't a conventional couple so _any _parenthood would require planning.

"I…I don't know. Give me sometime to think about it, I mean a lot time." Kagami told her. Who knew, maybe she would have a massive change of heart in a few months.

"Yay! Thanks onee-chan!" Tsukasa cried and threw her arms around Kagami and hugged. Kagami sighed and wondered what she had just gotten herself into…

_**RECURRING NIGHTMARE**_

They hadn't planned on leaving early but something came up. Something Kagami knew she couldn't put off any longer…

Konata was awoken from a peaceful sleep when she heard Kagami scream from beside her. Her first emotion from this was that pure rage one feels after being awoken brutally like that, it was quickly replaced by worry. Kagami usually didn't scream, the last time she had really _screamed _was when Kuroi was attempting to saw her arm off at neck level.

She felt Konami cling onto her and bury her head into her chest. Konata held her crying daughter against her chest and saw Kagami sitting up next to them. Kagami was drenched in a cold sweat and was breathing heavily with a look of terror on her face. It was true terror, not just the look of anxiety she sometimes got before a battle or the look she got when a fight was turning brutal; it was the face she had made when she saw a Deathclaw lunging at them that night five years ago. It was the face she made when she realized that maybe dropping a few dozen missiles on her location wasn't a great idea. Konata assumed she must have had one hell of a nightmare.

"Kagami…" Konata cooed softly and placed her hand on Kagami's chilled shoulder. Kagami resisted an urge to shove her away, it was just a reflex but it still disgusted her every time it surfaced. Even after all these years, Kagami's first reaction to be touched when she was unhappy was to shove said toucher away.

Konata watched Kagami stand up and walk woozily into the bathroom.

"Is mommy alright?" Konami asked and looked up at Konata. Konata stroked her hair and tried to decided which route she should go down when it came to answering a question like that. _Well I don't really know dear. I could just say "yes" and leave it at that, but that wouldn't really be the truth would it? No, your mommy Kagami is NOT alright, she has a lot demons that haven't gone away since before you were born. I know you haven't noticed lately but she hasn't been sleeping well, you know tossing and turning and all that good stuff. Sometimes she talks in her sleep but I can't make out anything she says, it's almost like a different language. Truth be told baby, I'm scared for her._

"I don't know." Konata replied truthfully. "Wait here a second." She climbed out of the queen sized bed and walked in after Kagami.

Kagami was staring deeply into the cracked mirror, her breathing had calmed down but that look of terror was still on her face. Konata saw that she was pointing a 2mm gauss pistol at the side of her head, her heart lurched and did a flip. Besides the events at the Crawler (Which were almost justified) Kagami had never shown any signs of being even remotely suicidal. Not after a week of happy family bonding here she was pointing a gun at her head.

Konata gracefully slipped behind her and quickly grabbed the gun out of her hand. It wasn't forceful but it sure startled Kagami; the blunette took the pistol and ejected the clip and microfusion battery both onto the floor.

"That's better." She whispered and placed the harmless weapon back into Kagami's hands. "You scared Kona-chan pretty bad."

"I did didn't I?" Kagami sighed, her voice was dripping with self-pity. She sighed again and threw the gun down into the dirty sink, it echoed throughout the house with a hollow bang. "I don't know why I had that, I don't even remember picking it up."

Konata led her back to the bed where Konami was eagerly awaiting their return. "I-Is everything okay?" She asked, tears were forming in her eyes.

"Yeah, every things fine. Just had a bad dream is all." Kagami replied and ruffled her hair. Konata knew that was a lie and her smile was blatantly forced.

"Kagami…" Konata began with a cross look on her face. "No, everything is not alright. What's going on?"

"Just a nightmare that's all." Kagami whispered and laid on her back.

"Remember the first rule we made after getting married, we don't keep secrets." Konata decided to remind her. "Remember what happened back in Broken Hills? If you had just told me what was going on then you wouldn't have almost died." That incident was a true "We're not going to make it out of this are we?" moment. They had stopped in this seemingly abandoned town after their stop in the New California Republic, Kagami was two months pregnant which made the whole situation a dozen times worse.

The place wasn't completely abandoned though, a settlement of people lived in some old mines adjacent to the town. They stopped there for the night, Kagami woke up to go to the bathroom and decided to listen in to what some of the settlements leaders were talking about. Kagami learned that the agriculture around the place had completely died off and many of their wells had gone dry, for whatever reason they placed the towns face on the shoulders of Konata's mother. From what she could figure out, a Super Mutant had heckled Kanata when she had come through there on her quest for the GECK. One of her companions, a tribal who was much more out of tune with reality ended up starting a fight. Pretty soon it became the five of them versus the entire town in a massive blood bath.

Now these remaining villagers had come to the conclusion that sacrificing Konata would bring good fate back to their lonely, begotten town. Kagami went akimbo with her two laser pistols and gunned down the conspirators. She was overwhelmed though and they took her prisoner, through some persuasion Kagami convinced them to let her take Konata's place in the ritual sacrifice.

Well, Konata woke up to find everyone missing. Long story short; she crashed a ritual murder and barely made it out alive with the two of them still in tact.

"Right, right…" Kagami replied after remembering all of that. It would have been easier if she had just gone and told Konata what she was planning, instead of taking it into her own hands. "Okay I'll tell you what's been going on. Do you remember that night we split up and you found your dad again in Vault 112?"

"Yeah, that was almost our first kiss."

"Well ever since that night I've been having these recurring dreams." Kagami told her. "First they were really unclear and made me more confused than anything else, but after awhile they started becoming more and more vivid, nothing really terrifying though. Tonight though…This time the dream was perfectly clear, so clear that I didn't know it was a dream."

"What happened in your dream?" Konata and Konami asked in unison.

"You should be going to sleep little missy." Kagami said crossed her arms, Konami flopped on her back and pretended to fall asleep. "Anyways, the dream, right. It's hard to explain, it starts off with me and Tsukasa walking through the night."

"You and Tsukasa walking, sounds pretty spooky." Konata chuckled.

Kagami shot her a death glare then continued. "Well we come across the building, it's pretty run down and decrepit like more than other prewar buildings. We walk in for some reason and end up walking around some, I don't really remember that part of the dream. Then I'm in some strange underground part of the building alone and there's this solid dark pit. Something takes over my body and I jump into it."

"Sounds pretty freaky." Konata said honestly, especially if it was as vivid as Kagami said it was.

"It doesn't end their either!" Kagami whispered loudly, "I pass out when I'm falling then wake up in the strange underground city. I think it's underground since I can't see the sky, all the buildings are strange spires and pyramids that are miles high. They're all covered in strange markings and this strange green gooey stuff. I start walking around and all I can hear are these voices chanting _R'yleh, R'yleh, R'yleh, _over and over again."

"Do you think your dream means anything?" Konata asked, she wasn't expecting it to.

"Yes." Kagami replied much to Konata's surprise. "That building that Tsukasa and go to in my dream. It's real, I feel like I've been there before but I think that's just part of the dream. I feel like I have to go there and do…something, and well I didn't want to tell you because you'd want to come along."

"Yeah, I do want to come along." Konata admitted.

"I wouldn't go without you." She admitted, "But I can't tell if that place in my dreams is even real. If feels reel and I can almost remembering going there, but it's hard to say."

"It's not your fault, those were pretty crazy times back then. That all happened so fast that even I'm having trouble remembering everything that happened."

"That's why I'm just going to let this all blow over." Kagami sighed and shook her head. "I remember having a dream like the one I had last night around the same time we found your dad again. I think that's why I keep thinking that part of my dream came from a memory. Still, it's really confusing…You know what else I can't remember?"

"What?" Konata asked, this conversation interested her. She remembered something about a creepy isolated building that could have fit Kagami's description, but she didn't know if it was real or not either. There was also a brief memory of Kagami describing some dream to her too, once again it was hard to tell if that was real or not either.

"The name or face of that girl who told me where the GECK was." Kagami told her, "You know who I'm talking about right? The one who was friends with your cousin, I think she was with the Brotherhood or the Outcasts at one point too; some power armor group at least."

"Minami." Konata reminded her, "Hmm, I can't remember what group she was part of before either. Couldn't have been Enclave because she helped me I found you at the Crawler." She felt awful for not really remembering anything about Minami past that, she couldn't even remember how she died. Konata _knew _that Minami had died but couldn't remember how or when. Had it been during or after the Crawler assault, probably after.

"Yeah, that girl was a prick. I know it sounds harsh but I'm glad she's dead." Kagami sneered.

"I'll tell you someone I can barely remember." Konata said after a moment of silence between them. "I feel really guilty about it, but I cannot remember the name of that girl who gave me my gauss rifle for the life of me."

"I know who you're talking about, she was with us during Operation Take It Back, right?" Kagami asked.

"I think so…" Konata replied sounding unsure. "I can't remember whatever happened to her, I can't remember if she was cool or not…"

"We've been gone for awhile huh?"

That was the extent of their conversation, the three drifted off into sleep. However, a peaceful night was not an option for Kagami. She was plagued with another dream. It didn't have the horror qualities of the first one, it was more confusing than anything else.

She dreamt she was back in The Crawler, minutes before Konata would arrive. She expected her arrival and wouldn't fire at her this time. The foreboding knowledge was strange to her. In dreams past, present, and future seemed to meld into one thing.

Instead of Konata she was saw something else. A figure staggered at her, a figure who looked like they had been mercilessly butchered. Their leather duster was torn to pieces and various bits of their guts were hanging limply out in a grotesque display. Kagami realized who this was supposed to be- Minami Iwasaki. It was hard to tell through the bloody and dirt but the mint-green hair and clothes gave it way.

Kagami drew her plasma pistol and trained it on Zombie-Minami's head.

"_A lie is a lie even if everyone on the planet believes it_." Was all the specter said before Kagami awoke.

She knew what it was, her guilty conscience playing with her because she had kept everything she had done from Konata. Kagami shrugged her dream off and went to back to sleep.

**ANOTHER YEAR SLIPS BY**

Konata and Kagami had stayed in The Republic of Miyuki. Tsukasa was overjoyed that they could all be together again, it was almost like old times. Especially now that everyone was still alive and there was no more fighting. She sat at the outskirt of the town and watched the sunset, her favorite past time.

As she stared off into the distance, her thoughts wandered to her sister. Kagami had left with Konata to scout of the Bethesda Ruins south of there. Tsukasa couldn't help but feel and overwhelming sense of love and admiration for her sister. Kagami had given her a gift, a blessing from the heavens, and Tsukasa couldn't think of a single way to express her gratitude.

That blessing was in her arms now, something Tsukasa would be eternally grateful for beyond words. That blessing was a child of her own, Mariko Hiiragi.

Tsukasa could only hope for the best for her month old child. The future seemed steady though, she couldn't imagine anything going wrong. She smiled at that thought and daydreamed as she stared at the city line in the distance.

A certain phrase shifted into her calm mind, one that had been mentioned many times before.

_War- War never changes_

**ON FALLING STARS…**

Your pal Tastychainsaws here. First and foremost I would like to say that little Konami Izumi was NOT thrown in as an afterthought. I had planned to include in the epilogue around when I started writing chapter 11.

I guess I surprised people with a happy ending didn't I? It's just that I really didn't want to kill any of the four girls, I didn't care who lived or died as long as they stayed alive. I do regret killing Misao though, she probably would have made a better sidekick for Konata during the attack on the Crawler. Ah well, I needed to someone to take an axing to so I could remind everyone that they were essentially fighting in war; and in war people die.

Really this story ended up a lot differently then I had originally planned. Like Konata and Kagami's relationship, I decided to add that midway through. I don't know what would have happened if I left it out, it probably would have been a completely different story. I did have to change a lot of mostly just because I had imagined it like a screenplay, and it didn't translate well onto paper.

For instance. I had originally had planned to end the story after they landed at the destroyed Citadel and the camera would have faded out while the song _Parabola _by _Tool _was playing. It would have made for a good movie ending but I didn't want to leave an open cliff hanger that would never be revealed.

One last little thing. A thanks to everyone who reviewed and gave criticism. You guys made me check for new reviews every ten minutes with an almost cult-like devotion. Another thanks to my friend David for putting up with rambling on about this story, well at least you were able to laugh manically at Miyuki, Thespian Extraordinaire. Oh yeah and you better end up reading this David because some of those extra characters that I made up were references I knew only YOU would get.

Thanks one last time for to everyone who enjoyed this story. You were all just as big a part in creating this as I was…well not really, but it felt like a nice thing to say. Certainly better than, "I hate you all and the world would be better without you." Since that's not a good way to establish any sort of fan base.

So what happens next? Well I guess I go and finish _Miyuki, Thespian Extraordinaire _and _A Game for Tsukasa_. Fun fact, the name "Thespian Extraordinaire" was actually taken from the PC game _Baldur's Gate _from some girl who tries to kill you towards the beginning of the game. Anyways, Falling Stars could possibly continue…it all depends on how _Fallout: New Vegas _turns out.


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